LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright Ko, 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Systematic Methodology 



DESIGNED TO 

RATIONALIZE AND HARMONIZE 
TEACHING PROCESSES 



BY ^ 

ANDREW THOMAS SMITH, Pd. D. 

PRINCIPAL OF STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, MANSFIELD, PA. 




SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 



] 



65452 



ji-ibr**./ y of OoncTi''«M<« 
i '\i. « jnti KtCt.'EO 

OCT 24 1900 

Copyngfit antry 

StD '^r COPY. 
, OfiOt<< O'VISJON, 

i^ov iG mo 






Copyright, 1900, 
By silver, BURDETT AND COMPANY 



PREFACE. 



This book is intended for that great and growing body of ear- 
nest teachers and students of education who believe that there is 
an underlying philosophy of teaching. It contains little that will 
interest such as are in search of ready-made materials and attract- 
ive devices for use in the class-room, to relieve the teacher from 
the labor of thoughtful preparation. 

The author has aimed to furnish a systematic treatment of the 
problems of teaching. He does not claim that it is an exhaustive 
treatment, but he believes it to be one without contradictions, and 
with sufficient emphasis upon essentials to make those who mas- 
ter it, and who possess the elements of a proper personality, able 
to teach with an intelligent regard for the rationale of their art. 

To those who are not inclined to pursue the study of the prob- 
lems of teaching into the realm of their application, but who are 
striving to master the various phases of the philosophy of educa- 
tion, from the standpoint both of the learner and of the truth to 
be employed, Parts I and II are commended. 

Those who desire to turn aside from a consideration of the 
mind, as treated in the various psychologies, and to devote their 
time to a more direct study of the problems that arise in present- 
ing the different branches of the curriculum, will find these dealt 
with, in both their broader and their more specific aspects, in 
Parts II and III. 

A. T. S. 

Mansfield, Pa., 1900. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction 5 

PART I. Nature and Development of the Mental Faculties. 

Chapter 

I. General Treatment 17 

II. Self-consciousness 23 

III. Perception 25 

IV. Memory 29 

Direct Aids to the Cultivation of Memory 37 

V. Imagination 39 

Kinds of Imagination 41 

Dangers of the Imagination . 44 

Practical Aids Recommended 47 

Directions for Cultivating the Imagination 49 

VI. Thought 51 

Aids to the Development of Thought 55 

VII. The Feelings, or Sensibilities 60 

Methods of Cultivating the Feelings 64 

VIII. THE Will 72 

IX. Attention 88 



PART II. General Philosophy of Method. 

X. The Notion, or Concept 97 

Definition and Description Distinguished 104 

Content and Extent of Notions 105 

Variation of Content and Extent of Notions 108 

XI. Distinctions of Method Based upon the Truths of 

THE Concept iii 

The Four Methods Distinguished 114 

Order of Use of Contrasted Methods 124 

Special Processes in Teaching Facts and Art 134 

Facts 135 

Arts 136 

The Concrete and the Abstract in Teaching 139 

XII. THE Actual Realities of School Subjects 144 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

PART III. Applied Methodology. 

Page 

XIII. Reading 174 

Primary Reading 176 

Word Method 188 

Advanced Reading 200 

XIV. Language Lessons 213 

Scope of the Work 216 

Set of Graduated Exercises 223 

XV. English Grammar 226 

Purpose 229 

Method 233 

XVI. Spelling 255 

Plans for Studying Spelling 258 

XVII. History 260 

Historic Facts 266 

Philosophy of History 281 

XVIII. Literature 283 

XIX. Geography 292 

Introductory Geography 294 

Systematic Geography 306 



Text-book Course 



314 



Commercial Geography 317 

Physical Geography 317 



XX. Nature Study 



319 



XXI. Arithmetic 324 

Course from One to Ten 332 

Course with Numbers above Ten 340 



XXII. Special Arts 



353 



Writing 353 

Drawing 3^6 

Vocal Music 358 



SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY 



INTRODUCTION. 

Works on teaching abound in which are to be 
found many and varied recommendations in method, 
most of which do not rise above the dignity of reason- 
able devices. As these schemes have been drawn from 
the experience and observation of successful teachers ; 
as they have been composed of the plans that have 
"worked" well for the accompUshment of their several 
ends; and as these ends have been as varied as the 
mental attitudes of the persons who aimed at them, we 
have been forced to receive in the name of '' Methods " 
a great mass of inconsistent and sometimes even contra- 
dictory items without a show of either unity or com- 
pleteness. All this has tended to throw the subject 
of pedagogy into disfavor, and has caused men to hold 
up to ridicule every effort at systematization even before 
it is examined. 

Still it is the writer's belief that when those who 
practice the art of teaching learn the conditions involved 
in it, pedagogy will be found to submit to as great a 
degree of order as will any of the other applied sciences. 
He believes also that these conditions can be as fully 
known as can the conditions for the application of any 
science which has to do with men in all the variety 

5 



6 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

which they present, due to differing impulses, opinions, 
motives, etc. And further, he holds that we do now 
know enough of the principles involved and of the 
secrets of their application, to render this subject sj^s- 
tematic and reasonable, not only in the principles to 
be announced, but also in the schemes for their applica- 
tion to the several subjects of the school curriculum ; 
and that generalizations in method applicable to one 
school subject need not be violated forthwith in others, 
on the ground that the subjects have nothing in com- 
mon and hence need not be treated as similar. 

Two main lines of investigation are necessary in 
order to render our knowledge of methods rational. 
We must first study the human mind, not necessarily in 
its completeness, but sufficiently to bring to light its 
absolute needs in the act of learning ; but, because the 
human mind is complex, it will be found necessary to 
treat its several capacities separately, discussing their 
nature and the means by which they unfold. In the sec- 
ond place, the nature of truth needs to be investigated 
in order to determine the conditions under which the 
human mind can comprehend it ; and, as the school 
branches are varied and appear to many to be totally 
dissimilar, they need to be harmonized and to have their 
fundamental similarities emphasized. Although these 
two phases of the study are clearly distinguishable in 
thought, and we can easily tell when reference is being 
made to the mind and when it is being made to truth as 
embraced in the subjects of study, no attempt will be 
made to keep them distinct throughout the treatment. 
Whenever it is believed that the discussion of the main 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

question of pedagogy can be clarified by reference, in 
the same section, to both the truth and the mind which 
must apprehend it, they will be combined. 

To render this entire discussion more complete and 
systematic, we must see to it that terms are used 
throughout with consistency ; we must be careful that no 
recommendations are given in one connection and vio- 
lated in another ; and we must make clear to the reader 
that, instead of geography, reading, grammar, arithmetic, 
etc., being taught by methods peculiar to each and totally 
diffei'ent from each other, they all obey certain well- 
defined fundamental laws applicable to truth in general. 
They are, therefore, taught alike, their seeming differ- 
ences being due merely to variations in the application 
of the law made necessary by the detailed differences 
in the matters with which we deal. Only when the last- 
named truth is comprehended can our teaching be 
made masterful and our appreciation of method become 
thorough. Till then the highest plane we can reach in 
school work is that of successful imitators, without a 
reasonable ground for the acceptance or rejection of any 
method or device that may be thrust upon our atten- 
tion. He who teaches well because he was born with a 
capacity for doing things in this department well, may 
become a successful teacher, but he alone can become 
an artistic teacher who comprehends the rationale of his 
art, and then learns how to perform skillfully the things 
he knows. 

It is an aim of this work to make clear to the reader 
that all the school studies which have to do with a body 
of truth to be comprehended are capable of being 



8 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

taught after the same comprehensive plan ; that this 
plan is determined by the requirements of the nature of 
the truth itself and of the mind which would master 
it; and that the varieties of so-called " methods " of 
learning are simply variations of the one comprehensive 
plan, made necessary by the fact that the truth em- 
braced in one branch of learning is different in kind 
from that presented in another. Or, more specifically 
expressed, it is this : generalizations of a given order 
are to be comprehended only in the light of the appro- 
priate individuals embraced within them. Here we have 
our one comprehensive plan, or principle of learning. 
This plan, and not some contrary one, is determined by 
the necessities of our thinking and by the fact that, 
in the world of things about which we study, only 
individuals exist, while generalizations are merely con- 
trivances of man, wrought out for his convenience in 
mastering the truths concerning this world of real but 
individual things. The inductive method of teaching 
formal grammar and the observational method of pre- 
senting the subject of introductory geography, are 
simply two different applications of the above-mentioned 
fundamental principle of learning, made different by the 
fact that the data in grammar call for an exercise of 
thought apart from perception, while the data of intro- 
ductory geography call for an exercise of thought in per- 
ception. Or, again, recognizing the uniformity of mental 
procedure from a unit or whole to its constituent parts, 
in the effort at mastery of a single thing, the analytic 
method of systematic geography, the sentence method 
in primary reading, and the method which would use a 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

problem in arithmetic, to be analyzed as the preparatory 
step for the comprehension of an arithmetical rule, are 
all found to be but so many different forms under which 
the one comprehensive law is expressed. The only dif- 
ficulty in the way of thus applying the above law of 
analytic mental procedure is found to be that of de- 
termining what is the tinit of study in the several 
school branches, and hence, where is the point of depar- 
ture in their systematic mastery. Because this thought 
is important, and perhaps not without its difficulties, 
it will receive extended treatment in a separate place 
and be frequently repeated in its proper connection. 

It is another aim of this work to make clear to the 
learner that there are many school subjects which do 
not consist of a body of truth to be comprehended, but 
rather of an art to be acquired (as writing, drawing, 
vocal expression, etc.), or of a body of materials to be 
simply stored in the mind (as spelling, the simple facts 
of history, — in so far as they need to be committed to 
memory, — the multipHcation table and other tables 
which, upon being comprehended, must be so fixed as to 
be ready for service, etc.). Neither of the above kinds 
of studies can be subjected to the treatment required in 
the case of truth that is to be comprehended, but they 
must be given a treatment peculiar to their nature. 
They call for a different form of exercise of the mind, 
and are not to be thought of as illustrating any of the 
laws of mental activity required in the mastery of a 
body of truth. Directions will be given for the learner's 
help in dealing with such subjects ; though, when they 
occur as parts of a more comprehensive subject, as the 



10 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

multiplication table in arithmetic, they will be inciden- 
tally considered as side issues, rather than in distinct 
chapters. 

Certain terms have already been used, and will be 
very freely used throughout these pages, and it seems 
important that we should have at this time a definite 
statement of their meanings. They are principle, 
method, and device. 

A principle in pedagogy is a fundamental truth which 
is to serve as the basis of method in the teaching art. 
These principles are formulated from what we know of 
the human mind and of the fund of truth with which 
humanity is to be educated. We know nothing of the 
essence of mind as we know nothing of the essence 
of matter. Phenomena alone are open to our study. 
What mind or matter does we may know, but not what 
either is. When we have discovered the necessary se- 
quences in the actions of human beings, we have learned 
the principles of human nature — '' the constitutional 
propensities common to the human species." In so far 
as these are now known, they may be made to serve as 
the bases of our various methods of teaching. These 
principles of the human mind may have differing degrees 
of generality in their application. Thus, the principle 
that the mind develops only through its own activity 
is one of wider application than the principle that the 
memory is made most wisely strong by being habituated 
to act according to the rational laws of association. The 
former of these includes the latter, while, at the same 
time, it refers to the other faculties or capacities of the 
human mind as well. 



INTRODUCTION. I I 

A method in pedagogy is a rational plan or series of 
steps for effecting results in teaching. According to 
Kant, *' Method is procedure according to principles." 
A method of teaching, then, is procedure in teaching 
according to the principles of teaching. Whoever re- 
gards methods as blind and a study of methods as 
blinding must be thinking only of an improper study of 
methods. If viewed in the light of their underlying 
principles — and this is the only intelligent form of 
study of methods — they will not destroy individuality 
nor in any way prevent growth. On the other hand, an 
intelligent study of methods of teaching, or of any other 
art, will prevent the narrowness inseparable from the 
possession of but one idea. Methods, like principles, 
may have varying degrees of breadth in their application. 
Thus we have the analytic method of study, which con- 
sists in taking units of study and disintegrating them to 
find the parts or elements of which they are composed. 
This may be done with a problem, a sentence, a myth, 
or a social custom. On the other hand, we have the 
sentence method of studying primary reading, which 
consists in presenting the sentence at the outset in 
reading and then proceeding to a consideration of its 
component parts, — words, and the letters and sounds of 
which they are composed. This is seen to be simply 
the analytic method limited in its application to a special 
department of study, that of primary reading. 

A device in pedagogy is simply a contrivance for 
applying a certain method. It shows the teacher's in- 
ventive skill in the provision he makes for the needs of 
individual pupils. To borrow simply the devices of 



12 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

another would tend to destroy a teacher's individuality ; 
but to comprehend the methods, which may be the com- 
mon possession of all teachers, makes possible a fertility 
of expedients or devices, without at any time violating 
the underlying principles of a true pedagogy. The only 
way to give assurance that one will not resort to winning 
but irrational and conflicting devices is to educate him 
thoroughly in the principles and methods of his art. 

*' Method is a way of reaching a given end by a series 
of acts which tend to secure it " ; device refers rather to 
a single action. We may teach primary reading accord- 
ing to the sentence method, but as a device we may 
use either the blackboard or a chart. We may teach 
geography by the analytic method, but whether we shall 
use a globe, a wall map, or a book in a given lesson is 
a choice of devices. 

In order to make this distinction still clearer, and thus 
prepare the way for an intelligent study of both the 
general and the special methods which are to follow, let 
me express it differently. 

1. Generalizations of a given order can be compre- 
hended only in the light of the individuals embraced 
within them. 

2. Words, which are the symbols of things, can be- 
come significant only in the light of the things which 
they symbolize. 

3. In teaching, the actual reality of each subject of 
study should be brought directly before the mind of the 
learner for the exercise of his powers. 

4. Since single things are the only real existences in 
a world of things, we should proceed, in our study of the 



INTRODUCTION. t3 

single thing, from the unit, as presented, to its several 
component parts — or analytically. 

5. In the attempt to make generalizations we should 
proceed from the individual things as presented to 
us in nature, to their comparative consideration — or 
inductively. 

6. In applying these methods the teacher may use 
any one of many devices. He may have the children 
bring to the schoolroom the things to be studied, or he 
may take the children for a walk over the country ; he 
may provide a separate specimen to be handled by each 
child, or he may have but one specimen to be used by 
himself, etc. 

The first and second statements may be considered 
as very general principles, the first based on the nature 
of the mind and the second on the nature of things. 
The third is a more specific principle, based upon the 
first two, and stated with more direct reference to its 
serving as a guide to teaching. As no thought move- 
ment is yet indicated, we have no method. But in the 
fourth statement is set forth the analytic method, which 
is applicable to the study of individual things ; while in 
the fifth is set forth the inductive method, which is 
applicable to the study of generalizations. Both of 
these are based upon the preceding principles. In the 
sixth statement reference is made to devices for workins: 
according to the above methods. Devices, as well as 
methods, are rational only when their use is in obedience 
to the truth of the underlying principles. 

One other line of thought should be taken up in order 
to render this outlook sufficiently full for its purpose. 



14 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Pedagogy is in large part a derived science. The being 
to be educated is dual in his nature, — composed of body 
and mind. Pedagogy must, therefore, borrow principles 
from physiology and psychology. But while psychology 
will furnish us the principles derived from mental activ- 
ities in general, two other sciences have been developed 
from the study of man's mental, as distinguished from 
his bodily, nature. Man is susceptible of moral growth, 
and, therefore, pedagogy must borrow from ethics. 
Human thinking has its laws very widely formulated in 
the science of logic, and hence pedagogy must borrow 
from that source. But, in each one of these, man may 
be regarded as an isolated personality, while, indeed, he 
is a social creature. A man in the midst of men is a 
very different being from a man in isolation. Entirely 
alone he is abnormal ; it requires society to make pos- 
sible his best growth. As a fish is created to live in 
water, so man is created to live in society. This, added 
to the fact that teaching is done through systems of 
schools, requires pedagogy to borrow from sociology and 
the various sciences of government. 

But, on the other hand, pedagogy has a wide field in 
which it is an independent science. The relative values 
of school subjects, the action of examinations, the effects 
of co-education, are some of the questions for pedagogy 
alone to solve. 

It is the recognition of this derived nature of so much 
of pedagogy that enables one to justify a deductive pro- 
cedure like that employed in this work. The gener- 
alizations thus employed at the outset are results of the 
foundation sciences on which we build. Nor does the 



INTRODUCTION. 1 5 

fact that pedagogy is in part an independent science 
disturb this position, for the average teacher is not 
expected to become an educational scientist. Expert 
investigators are making these studies, and the results 
of their inquiries are set forth in books on methods, to 
the end that practical teachers may, by obeying them, 
become artists. 



PART I. 

NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
MENTAL FACULTIES. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL TREATMENT. 

The term "mental faculty " needs a word of explana- 
tion before entering upon the conventional list of faculties 
and the means of cultivating each. The objection is 
often made that, when one speaks of the faculties of the 
mind, he teaches that the mind is divided into separate 
parts, and that each part, called a faculty, acts inde- 
pendently of the other parts. Let it be remembered, 
then, that the whole mind, or better, simply the mind, 
is active in whatever form mental activity is taking 
place ; and that we give to it the different faculty names 
to indicate the forms of mental activity which predom- 
inate in the several instances. By a faculty, then, 
we mean simply the soul's capacity or ability to do a 
distinct kind of work. We may be said, therefore, to 
have as many mental faculties as there are distinct kinds 
of work that the mind can perform. A clear analogy 
may be found in popular usage. If a man is trained to 
do a certain quality of work in wood, we call him a car- 
penter ; if this same man is trained to do work in paint, 

17 



I 8 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

we call him a painter ; if he is trained to do work in 
stone, we call him a stone mason. Now, evidently, the 
man, and not a part of him, is carpenter ; the man, and 
not a portion of him, is painter ; the man, and not a 
section of him, is stone mason. This man has the ca- 
pacity to do three kinds of work, and in each instance 
we give him the name derived from the kind of work in 
which he is engaged. Following this analogy, we may 
safely assert that the mind has as many faculties as 
there are distinct kinds of work revealed to the con- 
sciousness of man. Examining himself, then, each man 
finds that he possesses the ability to get truth, or to 
knoiv ; this capacity is called the intellect. Further 
examination reveals to man the fact that he has the 
capacity to experience pleasures and pains, or to have 
feelings ; this capacity is called the sensibility. Finally 
he finds ttiat there is within him the ability of self -direc- 
tion, or of action directed to some chosen end ; this ca- 
pacity is called the will. 

Instead of treating the culture of these three broader 
capacities of the mind, we can gain our ends better by 
extending the analysis and then studying the means of 
cultivating each of the sub-divisions — also called facul- 
ties — somewhat in detail. Man finds upon examination 
that he has the power to get truth from things that are 
present to his mind at the time he studies them. Such 
knowledge is called presentative knowledge. If this 
power is exercised in looking within his own mind and 
learning what is taking place there, it is called inner 
perception, or self-consciousness. If this power of get- 
ting truth from things at first hand is exercised upon 



GENERAL TREATMENT. 1 9 

things external to the mind, it is called perception. The 
avenues through which we can learn directly about a 
world of things are the senses, — sight, hearing, touch, 
taste, and smell. Perception is, then, the soul's capacity 
for getting knowledge of external things immediately 
through the medium of the senses. 

Self-consciousness reveals to man a capacity for get- 
ting ideas of things when those things are absent from 
him. Such knowledge is called representative knowl- 
edge. If these items of knowledge are made to appear 
in the forms in which they were originally acquired, and 
are then recognized as old acquaintances, it is called 
remembered knowledge, and the capacity for so acting 
is called memory. It is not necessary, however, that our 
knowledge should reappear and remain in the forms in 
which it was acquired. We have the ability to take these 
old items and to put them together into new wholes, 
thus producing mental pictures different from anything 
we have ever perceived, and perhaps unlike anything 
that exists in the world of realities. The power of cre- 
ating such mental pictures is called imagination. 

Each of the above powers has to do with individual 
things considered simply as individuals, and the product 
is a mental image of a single thing. The element of gen- 
eralization or of classification has not yet appeared in the 
analysis. Self-examination, however, reveals to us an 
ability to take these products of perception, memory and 
imagination, and, by comparing them, to derive certain 
higher and more general forms of knowledge than can 
be secured through the study of isolated individual 
things. This process of comparing, sorting, and arrang- 



20 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

ing the products of the lower faculties we call thinking, 
and the power we possess of doing this we call thought. 
The knowledge thus secured is called elaborative 
knowledge. Psychologists usually distinguish three 
stages of thinking. There is, first, the formation of the 
general notion, or concept. The concept is the mental 
content we have, answering to a class of things, and it is 
represented in language by common names, such as 
mountain, boy, animal, square. The power we possess 
to form such general notions is called conception. So 
much pedagogical significance attaches to the formation 
of concepts that we shall devote to it a separate chapter 
under the heading, ''The Notion, or Concept." 

The next stage of thinking consists in a comparison 
of concepts. This process of comparing concepts is called 
judging, and the product thus reached is called a judg- 
ment. In language the judgment is represented by a 
declarative sentence called a proposition. Take the 
thought expressed by the sentence. Knowledge is power. 
Here the two concepts are knowledge and power. These 
are compared and their relation of agreement is ex- 
pressed by ''is." This act of comparing is called judg- 
ing, and the product reached (the judgment) is expressed 
by the proposition. Knowledge is power. The faculty 
of comparing ideas or concepts is called judgment. 

The last stage of thinking consists in a comparison of 
judgments. This process of comparing judgments is 
called reasoning, and the power of comparing judgments 
is the power of reason. In language the process of 
reasoning is represented by a combination of propositions 
called a syllogism. Syllogistic reasoning consists in so 



GENERAL TREATMENT. 21 

comparing two related judgments as to discover a third. 
The propositions from which we argue are called the 
premises. The one at which we arrive in thought is 
called the conclusion. 

Example of a syllogism : — 

All men are fallible. (Major premise.) 
All kings are men. (Minor premise.) 
Therefore, All kings are fallible. (Conclusion.) 
" The essence of the process consists in gathering the 
truth that is contained in the premises when joined 
together, and carrying it with us into the conclusion, 
where it is embodied in a new proposition or assertion. 
We extract out of the premises all the information which 
is useful for the purpose in view — and this is the whole 
which reasoning accomplishes." 

It is believed that such a detailed analysis of the sen- 
sibility and of the will can add nothing to the value of 
the present work, so it will not be done. Tabulating 
our results, then, so that the relations of the several 
parts can be more readily apprehended, we have the 
following : — 

Faculties of the human mind : 

I. Intellect. 

1. Self-consciousness. ) These furnish presentative 

2. Perception. ) knowledge. 

3. Memory. ) These deal with represen- 

4. Imagination. ) tative knowledge. 

5. Thought. I ^^'^ ^'""^^ elaborative 

) knowledge. 



22 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

{a) Conception. 
{b) Judgment. 
{c) Reason. 

II. Sensibility. 

III. Will. 

Detailed directions will be given to aid in the more 
complete understanding, and in the cultivation, of each 
of these faculties. No attempt will be made to add 
such directions as are considered impracticable in modern 
school work. 



SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 23 



CHAPTER II. 

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 

This power that a mind possesses of knowing itself may 
vary through many stages, from simply being aware of 
what takes place within us, up to that more profound re- 
alization of self, which results from thinking intently upon 
the nature of our being and the dominating purposes of 
our lives. This higher and more reflective type of self- 
consciousness is not to be looked for in the very young, 
and, if found there, can be taken as an almost certain 
indication of an abnormal state of mind. We should 
expect little children to be naturally heedless, and, since 
they are usually impulsive, to be rather incautious. But 
while this is the condition in which we may expect 
to find children, it is not what we should strive to 
cultivate within them. Their heedlessness and indiffer- 
ence must be gradually forced to give way to caution ; 
and their impulsive actions must be supplanted by 
actions which are the outgrowth of a wise forethought 
and especially of a careful self-examination. Even Rous- 
seau's declaration, *' I would rather require a child ten 
years of age to be five feet tall than to be judicious," 
must be taken only as an indication of what we may 
expect to find in children, not of what we are to aim at 
in their education. What can we do, then, to develop 
within pupils, as they advance, this reflective type of 
§elf -consciousness ? 



24 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

1. Lead the child, by an occasional reminder, to con- 
sider the effect of his actions upon others. 

2. Aid him to examine the purity and elevation of 
the motives that prompt his conduct. 

3. Get him to make note of the various kinds of 
activity that he finds have the power to correct his 
mental disorders, such as anger, fear, hatred, etc. 

4. Lead him, through subsequent reflection upon 
actual experiences, to note how certain states of mind 
prejudice his thought either for or against men and 
measures. The memory will be found an indispensable 
aid in this matter. 

5. Have him study himself for the purpose of discov- 
ering the nature of his likes and dislikes, the kind of 
subject (memory, observation, reasoning) that he can 
most easily acquire, his customary disposition (whether 
thoughtful, impulsive, kind, envious, etc.), his habit of 
will (whether decided or vacillating, etc.). 



PERCEPTION. 55 



CHAPTER III. 

PERCEPTION. 

This is a faculty often thought to be especially strong 
in childhood. We need to bear in mind, however, that 
it becomes capable of more discriminating action as the 
person becomes more enlightened. It is possible to 
make our physical sense organs more responsive to stim- 
ulation, and, by this means, to develop the power of 
perception. But whoever makes this the aim in his 
culture of perception, works simply upon the surface of 
the matter and does not reach down to the hidden 
depths of the problem. The true culture of perception 
can be accomplished only by adding to this refinement 
of the organs a mind alive to many and varied interests. 
This can be done by storing it with a fund of knowledge 
upon a variety of subjects. It was once considered true 
that strength of perception and an enlarged power of 
discriminating thought could not exist together ; that 
strength of perception had to be acquired at the sacri- 
fice of wide learning. In support of this view it was 
customary to refer to the perception of savages, which 
was declared to be so much keener than that of highly 
enlightened men. This fancied superiority of savages 
need no longer be taken seriously. It all depends upon 
the environment in which they are asked to exercise 
their powers. Since we have learned that men are 
enabled to perceive things better by virtue of their 



\ 



26 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

greater knowledge of what to look for in things, and 
that their knowledge of what to look for is determined 
in large part by their general information, we are 
prepared to assert that, at the foundation of a wise and 
discriminating perceptive power, there must be a full 
mind. 

It is helpful for the teacher to distinguish between 
original and acquired, or transferred, perceptions. Orig- 
inal perception is perception of a quality by means of 
the sense which was evidently designed to give us the 
knowledge of that quality ; as, color through sight, 
sound through hearing, etc. Transferred perception is 
perception by means of one sense of a quality which 
was evidently designed to affect a different sense ; as, 
telling the temperature or hardness of a thing by look- 
ing at it, telling the quantity of liquid in a closed vessel 
by striking it, etc. Now these transferred perceptions 
are of very great importance to the learner, as they 
enable him to save much time and effort. He can fre- 
quently use his sight or his hearing, which operate 
through great distances, instead of his sense of touch, 
which would require bodily movement and to which 
many things would be inaccessible. But whenever doubt 
arises as to the correctness of the deliverances of our 
senses, we can test the matter only by an appeal to the 
sense originally designed to give us the knowledge in 
question. The entire science of perspective is based 
upon an optical illusion, — making things on a flat sur- 
face look as if they had the third dimension. All this 
seeming vanishes upon applying to it the sense of touch. 

Some advantage will come to a teacher from knowing 



PERCEPTION. 27 

that when several senses are used conjointly, as is usual 
in life, they reveal to us things which we could not rec- 
ognize if approached through one of the senses alone. 
This is true to a certain extent of any familiar combina- 
tion of the senses, but may easily be proved in the fol- 
lowing manner : Take very familiar liquids, — tea, coffee, 
water, vanilla, orange, chocolate, — and with the nose 
held shut and the eyes closed, taste them and find how 
many you know. The person being tested should have 
the things given to him by another, so he will not know 
beforehand what he is to taste. 

Since the higher forms of thought require material to 
think about and perception furnishes this material, it 
should be cultivated early in life. Every faculty is 
capable of its best cultivation during the time of its 
predominant activity. The following directions will aid 
in cultivating perception : — 

1. Require pupils to observe objects and then to mold, 
draw, or describe them. These exercises will correct 
errors in perception and force to greater attention in it. 
When pupils are describing the things they are perceiv- 
ing or have perceived, make them discriminate carefully 
between what they perceive and what they thiitk about 
what they have perceived. 

2. When some skill has been attained in the drawing 
and molding, have these often done from memory. 

3. Give exercises in map drawing, having maps drawn 
frequently from memory. 

4. Drill upon color discriminations in order to correct 
color ignorance. Do the same with geometrical forms. 
Do not confine this to the pure type forms, but exercise 



28 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

pupils In perceiving these forms as they are approximately 
embodied in objects, — the sphere in the apple, the 
orange, etc.; the cylinder in the jar, the pipe, etc. 

5. Drill in vocal music, attending to both tone discrim- 
inations and sight reading. 

6. Give exercises in elementary sounds, emphasis, 
inflection, etc. 

7. Remember that some people learn more easily 
through the eye ; others, through the ear. They may 
not remember best what they learn through the sense 
that takes it easiest. Frequently exercise the hearing 
of the eye-minded child and the sight of the ear-minded 
child. This will give strength to the weaker part in 
each. 

8. Strive first for great accuracy in perception ; then 
aim at rapidity. Only intense attention to the matter 
in hand, coupled with an attempt to force rapid percep- 
tion, will accomplish this latter end. 

9. Keep constantly on the lookout for sense defects 
in your pupils, — short-sightedness, color-blindness, deaf- 
ness, etc. In all cases needing it, bring the matter to 
the attention of parents, and urge the necessity of 
medical aid. 

I o. Guard the conditions of perception scrupulously, — 
the light, the print, the pupil's position, his health, etc. 



MEMORY. 29 



CHAPTER IV. 
MEMORY. 

It will suffice for our present purpose to use the term 
''memory" in the current sense as embracing the ele- 
ments of retention, reproduction, and recognition, though 
for the sake of clearness, these terms will need some 
explanation. 

By retention is not meant holding in permanent form 
the ideas that have been acquired. Ideas are not dis- 
tinct entities that exist apart from consciousness, to be 
put into it and taken out of it at pleasure. Apart from 
consciousness ideas do not exist. It would be just as 
futile to ask where the electric light is when the switch 
is turned as to ask where the idea is when it is out of 
consciousness. When it is not in consciousness it is not 
in existence. But if ideas are not thus retained as per- 
manent things, effects arc, and this is the important truth 
for us to learn in this connection. Each mental activity, 
which is the cause of an idea, leaves its effects upon 
the organism, and these effects are what we retain. 
Since these effects are retained, they constitute ten- 
dencies to repeat or reproduce the acts which made 
them. As these mental acts are repeated we get the 
idea again, now as a reproduced idea, and we have within 
us the capacity to know this reproduced idea as a former 
possession, an old acquaintance — we recognize it. This 
last is the especial function of memory ; retention and 



30 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

reproduction are only necessary preconditions. To re- 
member is to recognize any kind of revived past mental 
experience. We may remember not only the things 
that have been perceived, but also any kind of former 
mental experience, such as thoughts, feelings, or acts 
of will. 

Every mental act — whatever we perceive, imagine, 
think, feel, etc. — leaves a permanent impress upon us. 
Nothing is ever totally erased from our lives. We are 
different after each mental act from what we would 
have been if the act had never been performed. Each 
day's experience makes us better or worse than it found 
us. Not all of these things are remembered, but the 
effects of them all are retained. Many of these experi- 
ences are forgotten, but the consequences they have 
worked in us are not lost. To forget is simply to be 
unable to reproduce and marshal at pleasure. Forget- 
fulness is no sign of erasure, but only of an inability to 
command and use what has been impressed upon us. 
Frequently we find that things long since forgotten 
come rushing into consciousness after we have given up 
all attempt to recall them, and, even if they never reap- 
peared as facts, their failure to reappear would be no 
sign of erasure. In support of the claim that no im- 
pression made upon a human soul is ever erased, though 
it may be, either temporarily or permanently, forgotten, 
it must suffice to mention only one instance, the classical 
case of the German serving girl. When she was young 
she lived in the family of a clergyman who was accus- 
tomed to read and recite passages from Greek and 
Hebrew authors as he walked up and down the hall ad- 



MEMORY. 31 

joining the room in which she worked. She constantly 
overheard the sounds he made in reading, though she 
understood nothing of what was read. Since it was 
meaningless to her she made no attempt to retain it, and 
of course, she immediately forgot it. Years afterward, 
in the delirium caused by a fever, she repeated in her 
ravings page after page of this Greek and Hebrew with 
literal exactness. The impressions were permanent even 
when there were no ideas accompanying them. 

Since that which is impressed upon a life has such per- 
manence of effect, it behooves us to select with care 
that which shall be allowed to affect our pupils. Every 
error is, from this point of view, very costly. Fortu- 
nate are the children presided over by a teacher who 
has taken well to heart the truth which Horace Mann 
so well expressed in the following words : " Education 
more than anything else demands not only a scientific 
acquaintance with mental laws, but the nicest art in the 
detail and application of means for its successful prose- 
cution, because influences, imperceptible in childhood, 
work out more and more broadly into beauty or de- 
formity in after life. No unskillful hand should ever 
play upon a harp when the tones are left forever in the 
strings." 

For purposes of teaching we must distinguish clearly 
between the mechanical and the rational memory. The 
mechanical memory is that form of memory which must 
be appealed to in the study of all items in the midst 
of which clear thought relations cannot be discovered. 
The spelling of words, the names of persons, the times 
and details of events, etc., are examples, Very close 



32 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

attention in the process of acquisition, so as to produce 
as deep an impression as possible, must be largely relied 
upon in learning to remember such items. Joined to 
this and equally important with it is the element of fre- 
quent repetition. The only part association can play 
here is in arbitrarily grouping things on the basis of cer- 
tain accidental properties. 

The rational memory is that form of memory which 
we employ upon truth in the midst of whose items clear 
thought relations are discernible. As examples we may 
mention historic items seen to be related as cause and 
effect, scientific facts which are grasped as special appli- 
cations of some comprehensive principle, mathematical 
solutions whose successive steps need not be arbitrarily 
held, but may be thought. In cultivating this rational 
memory we must learn to add to the close attention and 
the repetition so serviceable in the mechanical memory 
the clearly formed rational association of the items to 
be remembered. A strong rational memory is one of 
the signs of a developed mind, but it costs something 
to get it. Besides the effort and the time which it 
costs, we secure it at the expense of the mechanical 
memory — the study of relations tends to weaken the 
memory of isolated data ; the search for laws tends to 
produce in us a neglect for special instances ; reducing 
everything to terms of thought relations tends to weaken 
our command of facts, which should be ever ready at 
hand. As a result of too exclusive attention to the 
rational type of memory, which is readily acknowledged 
to be the higher type, we have persons with scarcely 
any knowledge of dates, with a very embarrassing in- 



MEMORY. 33 

ability to remember names, and with such proneness to 
forget, that Hteral quotation is a practical impossibility. 
While a strong rational memory is a sign of a developed 
mind and should be strenuously cultivated, we must not 
forget that life requires of us a ready mechanical mem- 
ory, and we should therefore strive to keep it strong 
enough to meet the demands of a busy world. Each 
variety of the mechanical memory — that for places, 
dates, names, forms, colors, etc. — can be strengthened 
only by being systematically exercised within its own 
domain. 

In order that the memory shall be counted excellent, 
the individual must show readiness in acquisition, tenac- 
ity in retention, and promptness in reproduction and 
recognition. Acquisition involves two elements, com- 
prehending and fixing in mind ; it is to the latter that 
we refer above. If the individual requires manifold 
repetitions to fix in mind what another grasps with ease, 
it is because his memory lacks this first element of 
excellence. The surest way to improve at this point is 
by giving undivided and intense attention to that which 
is being committed to memory. This makes study a 
serious matter and not a pastime, but it pays large 
returns for the effort. Again, the memory may retain 
with excellence only momentarily. This is a great 
weakness and is usually due to the fact that the thing 
learned has not been often enough repeated to be made 
permanent, but has been dismissed as soon as an incom- 
plete insight into it has been gained. Frequency of 
thoughtful repetition is the remedy. By frequency of 
repetition is meant more than going over a thing a given 



34 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

number of times ; it means repeating the matter a given 
number of times within a specific time. 

There are two extremes in study which violate this 
thought. The first consists in repeating a countless 
number of times that which has been gone over often 
enough for one effort ; it does not even momentarily 
turn aside from the item that is being impressed, and 
therefore it gives the mind no chance to test the effects 
of its reiterations. The remedy for this error is to be 
found in occasionally stopping the repetition of the 
matter in question and then, after a brief interval of 
rest, endeavoring to repeat it without further reference 
to the source from which it is being learned. This 
intei-val should be gradually extended until at length the 
repetition may not take place for some days. In com- 
mitting to memory a bit of literature, students some- 
times read it over and over again, and for a long time 
they do not interrupt this constant reading enough to 
give the memory a chance to be tested. If they would 
read it once or twice carefully, then endeavor to repeat 
without the book as much of it as possible, and, when 
they reach their limit, read again in order to get a little 
more, they would secure much better results. When 
the entire selection has been committed, it should be 
repeated at intervals until it becomes a very intimate 
part of the learner's being ; then it will have a degree 
of permanence that is profitable. 

The second extreme is found in that plan of study 
which dismisses a thing from attention as soon as it is 
once well acquired. So much time is permitted to elapse 
before it is reviewed that, when it is at last approached. 



MEMORY. 35 

it is like coming upon that which is almost entirely new. 
All the old traces of it have been blurred, and before 
they can be deepened they must be marked out anew. 
It is as if builders should construct part of a building 
and then cease operations till this had largely fallen 
down and been covered with debris ; at last they resume 
work, but it is never at the place where they left it. 
How much labor would be saved if operations were sys- 
tematically continued until the structure is completed ! 
So it is with our mental labor in committing things to 
memory. We are no longer compelled to re-learn the 
multiplication table and the much-used maxims of our 
youth ; they were repeated at suitable intervals fre- 
quently enough to become finished and fixed. Thus it 
might be with other items deemed worthy of being com- 
mitted to memory. If they are kept up at intervals 
until they are well fixed in mind, the learner will be 
saved from the grave consequences of committing 
things merely for passing occasions. 

The last item of excellence in the memory is prompt- 
ness in reproduction and recognition. This can be se- 
cured only by persistent exercise. It is not enough to 
impress the truth upon the mind ; it must be reproduced 
frequently. Persons often complain of knowing things 
but not being able to think of them at the time. They 
cannot recall at pleasure what they are sure they will 
think of again if they only give themselves time enough. 
This defect may be helped by habituating one's self to 
reproduce items of knowledge with promptness and 
vigor. This will demand close attention and an effort 
to increase one's rate of mental activity along this line. 



36 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Nothing can take the place of frequent use of that which 
is known ; and oral declamation is one of the most help- 
ful aids in the cultivation of a strong and serviceable 
memory. 

A very fruitful subject of inquiry for the student of 
memory culture to ask is, What things shall be com- 
mitted to memory verbatim and what shall have only the 
truth impressed ? As a working answer to this the fol- 
lowing is offered : Only that should be committed to 
memory verbatim whose language has some peculiar 
merit of its own. Selections in literature should be 
learned verbatim because of the beauty or force in the 
diction ; principles in mathematics, because of exact- 
ness ; maxims, because of conciseness and point, etc. 
Most of the text of histories, reading books, newspapers, 
etc., should not be committed to memory verbatim, because 
it does not excel in force, beauty, exactness, or any other 
desirable quality. The pupil might give the thought as 
well in his own language, and to memorize the language 
of the author would add nothing of merit to the learner's 
vocabulary. Evidently the recommendation to commit a 
thing to memory verbatim does not contain a recom- 
mendation either for or against committing to memory 
what is not understood ; neither does it advise employ- 
ing the memory upon the language of that which should 
be attacked by the reason,, as if memory could be made 
a substitute for rational thought. Doubtless it is wise 
to commit to memory during the plastic period of youth 
many gems that are not fully comprehended, but this is 
no reason for the mistaken practice of committing to 
memory without understanding that which might be 



MEMORY. 37 

understood. There is no pedagogical ground for taxing 
the mind with senseless verbiage, when it is within the 
learner's ability to make intelligible the language he is 
asked to acquire. There is just as little ground for ad- 
vising a child never to commit to memory anything he 
does not fully comprehend. 



Direct Aids to the Cultivation of Memory. 

1. Give undisturbed and vigorous attention to that 
which is being acquired. 

2. Learn a thing through several avenues when pos- 
sible. Words in spelling may be looked at, said aloud, 
and written. The use of these avenues together will 
generally be found more profitable than the same amount 
of time expended upon any one of them alone. 

3. Cultivate any sense so that it can perceive finer 
shades of difference, and you indirectly strengthen the 
memory for its products. 

4. Improve the health and vigor of the body and you 
lay the physical foundation for an improved memory. 

5. No attempt should be made to commit things to 
memory when the learner is physically exhausted. The 
first of the mental faculties to be affected disastrously 
by wearying the body is the memory. 

6. Repeat at reasonable intervals whatever has been 
thought worth committing to memory, until it gets so 
fully impressed as to be ready upon call. 

7. Teach children how to commit a thing to memory 
by searching for its thought elements, or picture series. 



38 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

or catch words, or whatever it contains that may be 
taken as an aid to an intelligent fixing of the words. 

8. Teach pupils to search for thought elements that 
will enable them to associate what is being learned with 
what is already well known. 

9. Frequently have pupils reproduce things in the 
way in which they were meant to be of service when 
they were committed. If a poem has been committed 
for oral recitation, it is not enough to have it often 
thought over ; it should often be recited aloud. Pupils 
can frequently recite correctly in regular order the entire 
multiplication table and yet not give the correct products 
when these are called for promiscuously in problems. 
Such irregular drill should be frequent, for it is in this 
way that multiplication is valuable. 

10. Discourage the practice of committing a thing to 
memory by carrying in mind a picture of how it looks 
upon the page. All such arbitrary expedients have but 
a temporary value, and learning things for only tempo- 
rary ends is destructive to the permanence of memory. 
Do not countenance learning things merely for the next 
recitation ; habitual review, in the recitation, of related 
past knowledge will do much to correct this error in the 
learner. 



IMAGINATION. 39 



CHAPTER V. 

IMAGINATION. 

It is a popular error to think of the imagination as a 
faculty serviceable only to the sentimental, or at best to 
the writer of fiction or poetry, but having little if any 
real worth to the serious student of sober matters of 
fact. This mistaken conception has been very far- 
reaching in its baneful effects, and has led to a serious 
neglect, on the part of teachers, of this very important 
faculty. Instead of being a capacity valuable only as a 
means of diversion, as some think, it is the power re- 
quired in all mental picturing that involves a modifica- 
tion of the experiences of the past. The memory as a 
representative faculty can merely reproduce individual 
experiences as they have been met ; imagination takes 
these experiences as its material and modifies them to 
meet the purposes in view. The memory is a reproduc- 
tive faculty — it is in no direct sense a faculty of acqui- 
sition, but rather of conservation ; the imagination is a 
faculty of production, of actual creation in so far as that 
term can have any true meaning in reference to the work 
of finite beings. In all acts of original illustration either 
of philosophical, scientific, or practical truth ; in all 
mechanical invention, original composition, or decoration ; 
in the performance of intelligent manual labor, or the 
production of an ideal of human character, — in a word, 
in all mental advancement held within the bounds of in- 



40 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

dividual notions and not directly supplied by the senses, 
the imagination is involved as the dominant faculty. 

The closeness with which activity of the imagination 
is bound up with that of the other mental faculties will 
best be seen by calling attention to certain limitations 
placed upon it. Since the imagination must use as its 
material the data furnished by other forms of mental 
activity, it is evident that the scope of our mental experi- 
ences will serve to fix a limit upon the scope of our pos- 
sible imagining. If a child's experiences have been 
greatly circumscribed in extent and variety, he comes 
to the task of imagining very poorly equipped ; it is a 
modern version of attempting to '' make bricks without 
straw." In this is foreshadowed one of the indirect 
means of cultivating the imagination. Again, it is ob- 
served that children of all grades of maturity display 
marked differences in their ability to make original con- 
structions, even when they are furnished with duplicate 
lots of material. One child seems unable to think of 
anything else to do than merely to set things up and 
throw them down ; another is rich in expedients for 
*' making things." One must wait for others to suggest 
lines of employment or play ; another is full of schemes 
and is passing from one thing to another with prompt- 
ness and precision. These differences are due primarily 
to differences in the power of imagination ; and this 
variation arises from the fact that one is unable and 
the other abundantly able to detect relations among 
things or ideas. Now this power to detect relations is 
thought ; hence it is clearly seen that another limit 
placed upon our possible imagining is fixed by our power 
of thought, 



IMAGINATION. 4 1 

This leads to the remark that not all the picture- 
making tendency of the mind, not all day-dreaming and 
fanciful scheming are truly imaginative. The imagina- 
tion creates by laws rather closely connected with 
reason ; fancy is governed by associations that are more 
arbitrary and whimsical. The imagination, though moved 
by strong emotion, aims at results of a definite char- 
acter ; fancy can scarcely be said to aim at all, but 
rather simply to catch at the unexpected, the startling, 
the brilliant. True imagination, then, is the picture- 
making faculty operating under the guidance of reason. 
Whatever strengthens the power of thought, therefore, 
and teaches it to operate in the concrete, is of service in 
the culture of the imagination. 

Kinds of Imagination. 

For purposes of pedagogy the imagination is most 
profitably divided into two kinds, — the receptive imagi- 
nation and the creative imagination. As is indicated 
above, the imagination is the picture-making faculty 
under the guidance of reason, but this may be the 
reason of the person himself or that of another. 

If the mental imagery is subject to the dictation of 
another, as in reading a book or listening to a lecture, 
the imagination is receptive. 

If the mental imagery is subject to the guidance of 
the person's own unaided reason, as in writing a book or 
inventing a machine, the imagination is creative. 

It will be readily seen that this distinction is not one 
that in any way has reference to the fund of ideas pro- 



42 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY^ 

vided for the service of the imagination, but merely to 
the conditions under which the person acts in his use 
of such ideas. In the receptive imagination, the person 
has on hand a certain fund of data ; this is reproduced 
and then the imagination builds it into new products. 
But all this is subject step by step to the dictation of 
another mind, and presumably one which in that line 
is more experienced In the creative imagination the 
person has on hand the same fund of data ; this is 
reproduced as before ; and then the imagination builds it 
into new products. But now the choice of items, the 
arrangement of the several parts, and even the ideal 
which is to be actualized, are all left to the guidance of 
the person's own thought. The inference is plain from 
this that the receptive type of imagination should be 
appealed to and be cultivated before the creative type, 
both because it is easier for the child and because he 
will thus get at the outset the advantages of wisdom 
and experience as guides to the formation of correct 
habits of imagination, before he is thrown upon his own 
unaided resources in this matter. This relative order 
should be observed, whether the imagination exercised is 
of the artistic, or the scientific, or the practical kind. 

Objection is sometimes urged to the use of the term 
" creative " in reference to the human imagination. It is 
stated that the imagination can create nothing new ; it 
can at best only take old materials and put them into 
new relations. All the elements in the product are old, 
and we are totally incapable of making anything in 
imagination which was not furnished in its elements by 
the senses. If by creation we meant bringing into 



IMAGINATION. 43 

being, then the criticism would be a valid one ; but 
when it means producing that which in its present form 
did not previously exist, the objection to the word seems 
unfounded. We speak of persons making new houses, 
new wagons, new art designs, or new clothing, and the 
expressions go unchallenged ; and yet most people have 
doubtless never stopped to think in what the element of 
newness consists. All the materials in a new house — 
the wood, stone, iron, slate, etc. — are old. What is it, 
then, that makes it a new house ? We distinguish 
between new clothing and "made-over" clothing, and 
yet all the materials in the new garments may be as old 
as those in the others. What, then, is the ground for 
the distinction ; and just what do we mean by a new gar- 
ment ? Every material product of man's skill is made 
up of two things, — material elements and relations. 
The material elements man must always find at hand 
ready for his use ; he cannot bring any of them into 
being. The relations, or arrangement of these elements, 
he furnishes. And these new relations constitute the 
only element of newness in any of the products of 
man's skill. A new house, then, is all old, except the 
arrangement of the materials which compose it. If 
these materials have never before been put into the 
relations required for the production of such an object 
as is before us, we call the object new ; if they have 
been in such relation before, we call the product a 
"made-over" one. A new garment differs from a 
made-over one only in this : the materials of the " made- 
over " garment have been used in garments before, 
while those of the new one have never been so used. 



44 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Now, in the products of imagination we have just the 
same amount of newness that we have in material prod- 
ucts, — new relations. All the elements (ideas) which 
serve as the data of imagination are old ; the arrange- 
ment alone is new, and these new relations man creates. 

Dangers of the Imagination. 

The imagination, more than any other faculty of the 
human mind, is liable to certain dangers, which arise 
doubtless from the fact that it tends to act spontane- 
ously, and to work out a train of consequences from the 
impetus of a simple suggestion. 

I. If the picture-making tendency is developed ont of 
proportion to the judgment, the iiidividual is liable to 
become visionary. His imaging may remain under 
control of what little judgment he possesses, but the 
danger is that he will enter into various wild and reck- 
less schemes, because his strong imagination prefigures 
results which he fails to see are impracticable and there- 
fore useless. The remedy for such a state as this is to 
be found in bringing the individual into vital contact 
with stern matters of fact. The result will be that 
these will give him a fund of practical information, and 
develop his power of judging in a world of realities. 

People thus ill proportioned are often spoken of as 
having an over-powerful imagination. This seems, how- 
ever, to be placing emphasis upon the wrong term. No 
person was ever born with powers too great. This lack 
of harmony is the result, not so much of excess in 
the picture-making faculty as of deficiency in the judg- 



IMAGINATION. 45 

ment. Due proportion may be secured either by dimin- 
ishing, through inactivity, his imaging abihty, or by 
increasing, through appropriate action, his power to 
judge. No thoughtful teacher will ever strive to 
educate through repression, when proper harmony and 
greater absolute strength can be secured by develop- 
ment. If proper harmony cannot safely be reached by 
this process it is better to resort to repression than not 
to secure it ; but the effort at development of the 
weaker part should always be undertaken in preference, 
especially when neither member is inherently evil. 

2. Because the imaginatio7t acts so vigorously m obedi- 
ence to the promptings of strong feelings it is iri danger 
of becoming sediicttuei While the individual is reveling 
in the delights of imaginary situations there is develop- 
ing within him a taste for such highly colored experi- 
ences, and, before he is aware of it, the commonplaces 
of a world of reality may become unbearable. Stem 
duties will not be met, and imagining one's self con- 
queror of an important or difficult situation will take the 
place of persevering endeavor, which alone can overcome. 
Firmness of character is thus in danger of giving away. 
Reliance cannot be placed in such an individual because 
he confuses the imaginary with the real. In little chil- 
dren this leads to many forms of nursery untruths. 
This is not to be confused with deliberate lying, which is 
intentional deception ; but placing so much belief in the 
reality of our mere imagining prepares the mind for the 
practice of falsehood. It at first renders us familiar and 
contented with uncertain data ; soon the unreal becomes 
more of a joy and more capable of bending to our pur- 



46 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

poses than the real ; then we need but to add the decep- 
tive intention in the use of material we have become 
accustomed to handle, and we have the liar. It is rather 
an evolution to a bad end, than a sudden reversal of 
character ; and right in that lies the danger of imagina- 
tive activity that is largely prompted by unbridled feel- 
ings. The remedy is again plain, — an appeal to matters 
of fact ; a development of the judgment so that unrea- 
soning feeling shall cease to hold sway ; and a constant 
shaping of events so that the stern demands of unre- 
lenting necessity — hunger, thirst, inconvenience, etc. — 
shall fall upon him who is seduced by the unrealities of 
a world of mere imagination. 

3. The third great danger of the imagination is that 
it is likely to become corrupting, because here we have a 
power as i^esponsive to evil as to good. It was stated 
above that the imagination tends to work out a great 
train of consequences from a simple suggestion. Now 
this suggestion may come either from our contact with 
a fund of pure and elevating truth, or from association 
with the corrupting influences of sight, sound, or thought. 
It is evident that the trend of our imaginative activity, 
thus awakened, will be determined very largely by ele- 
ments that are under our control, — the fund of ideas 
already acquired ; the purpose or intention of the person ; 
the habits he has established, and the strength of his 
will. In the proper direction of these forces lie the 
preventive or corrective measures for this danger. 



IMAGINATION. 47 



Practical Aids Recommended. 



I . Be careful of the perceptions of pupils. It matters 
greatly what children see, hear, think, or do. It has 
been pointed out elsewhere that the effects of impres- 
sions made upon the human soul are permanent. Here 
it should be added that the fund of ideas received 
through perception will furnish the data for imagination 
and do much toward determining the trend of imagina- 
tive activity. Whether a child's imaginings shall be 
healthful or hurtful will depend largely upon the moral 
purity and worthiness of that which he is called upon to 
listen to or look upon. How carefully children should 
be shielded from the moral pollution of improper pic- 
tures, of street loafers, or corner-store loungers will be 
readily determined when we have placed the value we 
should upon a child's mental and moral integrity. And 
we dare not forget that this integrity is affected for all 
time by their perceptions, which become the burden of 
their imaginings. It may take contact with but a little 
of evil to fan into a consum.ing flame the imaginings of 
a child who might, but for that contact, have been made 
almost divine. In these recommendations it is not 
forgotten that some one must face evil in order to put 
it down ; but that person should be one whose character 
is established beyond question, and not a child. In the 
beginnings of childhood it sometimes requires but a very 
little thing to start a train of circumstances that develop 
into monstrous consequences. The switch that moves 
the railway track but a few inches sends the trains to 



48 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

their different destinations, often many miles apart. 
A wholesome environment to furnish a child's percep- 
tions will almost insure safety in imaginative growth. 

2. /;/ so far as it is possible, keep the mind actively 
and pleasantly engaged with that which is worthy. In- 
activity is impossible, and activity that is constantly 
opposed to one's inclinations is impracticable. We must 
learn to make the proper at least as delightful to the 
child as the improper. His indulgence in the good and 
enthusiasm for it will thus become matters of early habit, 
and this is a powerful safeguard against a corrupting 
imagination. 

3. Prevent or correct every exercise of a brooding or 
moody tendency. This disposition, which is not common 
to childhood, can be corrected by seeking out pleasant 
companions, enjoyable books, or interesting enterprises. 
Activity is a characteristic of childhood and merely 
needs guiding. An unthinking constraint laid upon a 
child will have a tendency to render him irritable, un- 
healthy, speculative, and positively vicious. 

4. Urge 7ipon pnpils the zvrong of evil thinking, and 
teach them that purity of tJiougJit is even more deep-seated 
manliness than purity of action. Our actions may be 
controlled as a matter of public or social policy ; if 
our thoughts are controlled it is likely to be from the 
motive of inherent worth. Actions may be feigned ; the 
thoughts we entertain are always real. This distinction 
is the more important because many persons who will 
not sin openly will revel in the vices of a polluted imag- 
ination. They are thus destroying the very foundation 
of their moral character, Improper action enables others 



IMAGINATION. 



49 



to know the truth and to render help ; improper thought 
is secret. In all this, reference is made merely to 
the effects upon the actor ; it is not intended to mini- 
mize the consequences of action upon the community. 
The purpose is rather to emphasize the thought of 
Robert Browning in " Saul " : '' 'T is not what man docs 
which exalts him, but what man would do. 

Directions for Cultivating the Imagination. 

1. Keep the child in familiar contact with facts in 
nature, art, literature, etc. He may thus secure a fund 
of ideas that will be suitable material for subsequent 
imagining. 

2. Drill the child frequently in recalling his fund of 
information. This is the second preparatory step to the 
training of imagination. 

3. Give the child numerous examples of true imagin- 
ing to serve as models for him to adopt. These may be 
chosen from literature, history, art, invention, etc. 

4. Furnish numerous opportunities for the exercise of 
his receptive imagination. These may be found in clay 
modeling, paper folding, drawing, etc., subject to dicta- 
tion ; in verbal description or pictorial illustration of 
scenes read about or heard ; in the visualizing of condi- 
tions in arithmetic, geography, history, etc. — in a word, 
in every scheme that will afford an opportunity for the 
child to exercise his imagination subject to the direction 
of another, given either by word of mouth or by writing. 

5. Now the child is prepared for the final step in the 
development of his imagination, — creative work. This 



50 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

creative activity may be secured through composition 
(bits of fiction in prose or poetry may be invented and 
then illustrated ; pictures, events, or scenes in the 
neighborhood, natural forces, mythological personages, 
etc., may be made the basis of original short stories) ; 
designing in the drawing class (the designs may be for 
wall-paper or oil-cloth patterns, etc.) ; pictorial illustra- 
tion of selections in reading, history, geography, etc. ; 
invent ional work with compass and ruler. 



THOUGHT. Si 



CHAPTER VI. 
THOUGHT. 

If we accept Froebel's view that the purpose of the 
school is the development of principles in the several 
subjects rather than the mere impressing of isolated 
facts, we shall doubtless accept the view that the culture 
of thought (which is the power that grasps principles) 
is of paramount importance. But, in order to know just 
what this faculty of thought is, a few words upon its 
nature will be needed. 

The word '' thought " has been used in varied senses to 
mean the reasoning power of the intellect, all the acquis- 
itive faculties of the intellect, and the intellect, or the mind. 
In this connection we use it to mean the power of com- 
paring, assorting, and arranging our fund of ideas, of 
thus classifying these according to their agreements and 
differences, and of comprehending the truths revealed 
in such classifications. It is this power that enables 
man to profit by experiences, to infer that what is true 
in a given case is likely to prove true in similar cases. 
It enables us also to reap the benefits of the successes 
or failures of others, — to copy the one and to shun the 
other. It is thought that makes possible all the advances 
in the arts and sciences, that employs nature's forces in 
the service of man, that domesticates the wild animals 
of the earth and makes them obey man, that contrives 
to baffle disease and to employ all the developing agents 



52 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

for man's advancement, and that enables man to escape 
error, to appropriate truth, and thus to approach the divine. 

Thinking is commonly treated as including three steps, 
or stages of complexity, — conceiving, judging, and 
reasoning. It is not to be understood that one of these 
stages is employed and that, after its work is finished, 
the next one is begun. They are all bound up within 
the process of thought, and are in constant interaction. 
When we think, in its fullness, we can analyze the 
process into three clearly distinguishable acts and their 
respective products, and these acts we call conceiving, 
judging, and reasoning. 

All that is said, therefore, in the chapter upon " The 
Concept " may be taken as part of the discussion of the 
nature and development of thought. It is beyond the 
purpose of a work like this to discuss in detail the sub- 
jects of judgment and reasoning. For such a discussion 
the student must look to works on psychology and logic. 
The only thing that can be done here with profit is 
to give some practical guides for the development of 
thought, which will apply to it in all three of its stages. 

One distinction it seems important to make in this 
connection. It is the distinction between inductive and 
deductive thinking or reasoning. 

Inductive reasoning is a process of inference which is 
based on experience and which reaches a generalization 
that applies to cases beyond experience. 

What is said upon the subject of the inductive method 
of teaching may be considered as so much said in the 
discussion of inductive thought, for to teach inductively 
is but to supply the conditions and stimulate to the activ- 



THOUGHT. 53 

ity of inductive reasoning. In this connection we need 
to add the following remarks : — 

Inductive reasoning is a process of infeirncc ; that is, 
a process of knowing '' by means, or on the ground, of 
facts or evidence." An inferred proposition is a propo- 
sition which is seen to be true, because of its relation to 
some other previously known proposition. Many persons 
regard as inductions, and as the only perfect inductions, 
those cases in which we examine all the individuals of a 
class and then make a summary statement concerning 
them. Instead of forming instances of perfect induc- 
tions, these cases do not seem to be inductions at all. 
They are rather statements of exactly the same truth, 
but by means of slightly different words. We examine 
each of the twelve months of the year and then, as the 
outcome of our investigation, having found that each 
one has in it less than thirty-five days, we assert that no 
month contains thirty-five days. We examine all the 
pupils of a class, and then assert that they are all honest, 
or that none of them are ignorant of a certain subject. 
These are simply abbreviated forms of expression ; and, 
because we have examined all the possible cases, they 
are summary statements of our findings and are worth 
much. The mental process involved in such a per- 
formance is very different, however, from the mental 
process in an act of inductive inference. In this latter 
it is necessary that we discover some causal connection 
between the items revealed in our experience and the 
class of things to which the few individuals under 
examination belong.^ 

1 Sec Elements of Inductive Logic, Part I, by Noah K. Davis. 



54 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

To become a case of real induction our inference must 
apply to cases beyond our experience. It must be a gen- 
eralization. A man sees a wounded bird lying upon the 
ground ; he endeavors to ascertain the cause of its being 
there, and, after due consideration, decides that a hunter 
was the cause. This is often regarded as a case of in- 
duction, because our first act is an observation of the 
wounded bird ; hence, it is thought, we are performing 
a process of inference from experience. In truth this 
is a case of deductive reasoning, in which our attention 
is first directed to the minor premise. And, since the 
major premise used in this act of reasoning is not cer- 
tain, but doubtful, the conclusion is at best but a prob- 
ability. Perhaps it is this element of probability which, 
more than anything else, serves to make men call the 
process one of induction, because the inferences reached 
by induction are always but probable at best. The 
probability may be great or small, but the fact that 
exceptions are conceivable, when we generalize beyond 
experience, renders it impossible that our empirical gen- 
eralizations should be absolutely certain. 

Deductive reasoning is a process of inference which 
starts from a given generalization and reaches a conclu- 
sion of equal or less generality. Some of the general- 
izations from which deductive reasoning starts are in- 
tuitively known. Such are the axioms of mathematics, 
the primary laws of thought in logic, and the ideas of 
being, cause, space, and time. Others are inductively 
established. Such are the general laws of physics, 
astronomy, biology, etc., — the generalizations of the 
natural sciences and of all other empirical sciences. All 



THOUGHT. 5 5 

demonstrative reasoning, as in algebra, arithmetic, and 
geometry, whether it merely establishes rules on the 
basis of the axioms, or solves problems on the basis of 
the rules, is deductive. All applications of laws, or 
other generalizations, to individual instances is deductive. 
In a word, all mental processes which pass from general- 
izations of a given order to those which are narrower, or 
to individuals, are deductive. 

Aids to the Development of Thought. 

1. Train children to be exact m their perceptions. 
Since thinking is a process of mental sorting of ideas, it 
is evident that its exactness will be determined in part 
by the accuracy and the completeness of our ideas as 
furnished by perception and revived in memory. 

2. Require children to nse language with exactness. 
Language is both an index to thought and an instrument 
of thought. To require children to say exactly what 
they undertake to say will necessitate icareful thinking ; 
this will result in developed thought power. In order 
that the greatest possible help may be given along this 
line, it is necessary that the teacher should constantly 
present correct models of language. This does not 
mean in the language class alone, but in every class, and 
out of class, the teacher's thought and expression 
should be models of correctness. Then, whenever the 
interruption will not sacrifice the subject in hand, correct 
language and correct thought should be unfailingly 
demanded of the child. Figurative language should be 
used very sparingly with children, until after they have 



56 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

been clearly impressed with the Hteral meanings of the 
words that enter into the figures of speech. 

3. Deepen, as well as bi'oaden, the child's vocahdary. 
Ordinarily attention is given only to increasing the num- 
ber of words at the child's command. Such a broaden- 
ing of his vocabulary, if done intelligently, will enlarge 
his scope of ideas and improve his powers of expression. 
But we need also to attend to increasing the clear7iess 
of meaning attached to the words he uses, as well as to 
increasing the finmber of meanings of words that have 
more than one. While this deepening process will not 
seem to enlarge the child's vocabulary, it will increase 
his fund of ideas and thus render both his thinking and 
his expression more exact. 

4. In the ''reasoning studies'' (those where truths are 
involved rather than simply facts) let most of the teach- 
ing be done by means of questions. If this is not done, 
the learner will often endeavor to prepare the lesson by 
merely committing to memory the expressions found in 
it. All of this may be recited correctly without the 
learner becoming aware of the truths expressed. In 
very truth " a question is the teacher's instrument for 
making a child think." In order that the reasoning 
subjects may furnish to the learner the power which 
they are capable of furnishing, they must be addressed 
to his understanding and not merely have their language 
addressed to his memory. In order that we may avoid 
the error of attempting to "■ lead by questions " where 
leading is impossible, it is necessary that we fix the 
limits to this vital teaching process. Any arbitrary 
items, such as a name, the particular words of an 



THOUGHT. 57 

author, or any other matter of fact, must simply be told. 
Whether it shall be told through the book or in the 
words of the teacher, circumstances must determine. 
Sometimes analogies are plain enough for a child to get 
the item by a good bold guess ; but such a practice 
should be discouraged, because he will not then know 
that he is right until he is told so, and the practice is 
not worth what it costs in effort, time, and the establish- 
ment of bad habits. There are places where telling is 
good teaching. 

5. /;/ the processes of reasonmg insist tipon every step in 
the thought. This direction is especially needed in those 
parts of subjects that have become mechanical to the 
teacher. If, through great familiarity, they have be- 
come very easy to the teacher there is danger of his 
thinking them correspondingly easy to learners. If 
through constant use of them his mind has become 
directed to their art side rather than to their science 
side, there is danger of his forgetting that any reason is 
necessary. This is why it often occurs that brilliant 
scholars are very poor teachers. In solving an equation 
in algebra or a problem in arithmetic, in demonstrating 
a proposition in geometry, or in disposing of a logical 
proposition in grammar, their minds work so rapidly that 
they express to the class only an occasional step in the 
thought process. The remedy for all this is in the 
teacher's habituating himself to ask why each assertion 
is true. 

6. Have co7istant comparisons entering into the study 
of all subjects. In history, men and movements may be 
compared ; in geography, places ; in literature and gram- 



58 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

mar, the truth of related sentences ; in arithmetic, 
problems ; etc. Take the four typical unconditional 
propositions presented in deductive logic (A, E, I ,0), 
and compare their truth. 

A. The universal affirmative proposition — ^//met- 
als are brittle. 

„ „, . , ^' i No metals are brittle. 

E. The universal negative \ 

\ All metals are not 
proposition- \ ^^.^^^^ 

I. The particular affirmative proposition — Some 
metals are brittle. 

O. The particular negative proposition — Some met- 
als are not brittle. 

Now, if A is true^ how does that affect the truth of 
the others.? If E is true.? I.? O .? Then if A is 
false, how does that affect the truth of the others .? If 
E is false .? I .? O .? 

Such comparison of related sentences should enter 
largely into the study of grammar and literature. Pars- 
ing and analysis of isolated sentences may be made to 
develop the reason, but they often sink to the level of 
unthinking formalism. 

In arithmetic and algebra dwell much upon principles 
and rules for operations, and less upon isolated prob- 
lems. If a learner is master of the laws of operations, 
he knows the subject ; if he is not, he does not know 
the subject, even if he can solve problems. The pos- 
sible conditions and difficulties that can be introduced 
into problems are almost endless. We can never hope, 
therefore, to make the child able to solve with ease any 
problem that may arise. When he once understands 



THOUGHT. 59 

the laws involved, we should give him all the practice in 
their application that circumstances will permit, but we 
should not aim at the impossible task of exhausting the 
side of practical application in these subjects. 

7. Avoid hasty inductive inferences. Put every such 
inference to the test of facts. Much of this should be 
done with learners in the physical sciences, because 
there error can be soon uncovered. Historical infer- 
ences, judgments upon conduct or character, opinions 
upon questions of the day, etc., should all be tested by 
requiring a reason for the faith that one possesses. 
Such practices will make the child careful in forming 
opinions, just in judging character, and prudent in 
business, 



60 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE FEELINGS, OR SENSIBILITIES. 

The sensibility, or capacity to experience pleasures 
and pains, is the most changeable and mysterious of all 
the powers of the human soul. Its culture demands 
the greatest skill, discernment, and real wisdom required 
of the teacher by any of his duties. How to make a 
child kind and sympathetic but not sentimental ; how 
to strengthen self-reliance without rendering the child 
bombastic and conceited ; how to make him economical 
but not avaricious ; how to render him just but not 
pitiless, — these and many other problems await practical 
solution and are to find it in the proper culture of the 
feelings. 

In order that we may know what to aim at in culti- 
vating the feelings, a brief discussion of their nature is 
necessary. In all conscious experiences there is a cer- 
tain degree of pleasure or pain, of comfort or discom- 
fort, of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Now, we use the 
term ''feeling," or sensibility, to designate the capacity 
we all have for experiencing such agreeable or disagree- 
able states of mind; and we call the products, or the 
mental states themselves, feelings. 

These feelings, which are always states of mind, arise 
either from some bodily cause or from the thoughts we 
may be entertaining. If the feelings are the result of 
a bodily cause, we call them sensations. These sensa- 



THE FEELINGS, OR SENSIBILITIES. 6 1 

tions may arise from the action of the special sense 
organs, the eye, ear, nose, mouth, or surface of the 
body (touch organ) ; or they may arise from the action 
of the deeper muscles, or the internal organs. But in 
every case, if the feeling arises from a bodily cause, it 
is a sensation. Further, we need not give in this place 
special names for the various kinds of sensations, as 
they would only complicate our discussion, and would 
add nothing of value to pedagogy. 

If the feelings are not the results of a bodily cause, 
but arise simply from the entertainment of ideas, we call 
them sentiments. The sentiments may arise as the ac- 
companiment of ideas about beauty, goodness, or truth, 
and then we call them respectively the aesthetic, the 
moral, or the intellectual emotions ; or they may have 
reference to other persons, when we call them affections 
(love, a benevolent affection, and hate, a malevolent 
affection) ; or they may be feelings that go out toward 
some object and are accompanied with a wish to possess 
it, when we call them desires. But, neglecting these 
distinctions, the important thing for the teacher to re- 
member is, that all the sentiments are feelings which 
arise as the accompaniments of ideas. If we wish to 
awaken a certain sentiment in a child, we must give to 
him the ideas suited to arouse that sentiment. 

We cannot get at the feelings at first hand, but must 
regulate them, sensations or sentiments, by regulating 
either the bodily states or the flow of ideas. If we de- 
sire a child to have pleasant sensations, we do not place 
his body in a strained or pinched or otherwise uncomfort- 
able position, and then say to him, " Now be comfortable 



62 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

and enjoy your sensations." We proceed immediately to 
put his body into a position that is easy and free, and 
where the stimuli of heat, light, etc., attack it in a way 
to which it can respond with ease, and then he becomes 
comfortable in body as an immediate result. So, if we 
wish a child to have sentiments of a certain kind, we 
must not direct him to feel them, but we must impress 
upon him the ideas suited to produce them and the 
feelings will come as a necessity. If we wish to get a 
child to feel pity we should not direct him to do so ; 
we should bring to his notice the circumstances of per- 
sons who are in a pitiable condition. If we wish him 
to be joyous, fill his mind with thoughts of pleasurable 
things. Especially if we wish a child to change quickly 
from an emotional state to a different one, it is use- 
less to direct him to make the change. Force upon 
his attention the ideas of the new kind and the change 
of emotion will follow. If we wish a child, who is now 
gleeful, to become serious and earnest, we may require 
him to repress the expression of his mirth so that we 
may get at his thought, but then immediately there 
should be brought to him some ideas that will require 
earnest endeavor. 

As the mind is superior to the body, so are the senti- 
ments superior to the sensations. Our aim, therefore, 
should be to get the child to live in the realm of the 
higher sentiments rather than, as he now does, in the 
realm of sensations. Educate him to appreciate and en- 
joy the delights of art, literature, and reflection, rather 
than to be bound down to the gratification of his sensu- 
ous nature in eating, sleeping, and drinking. The aim 



THE FEELINGS, OR SENSIBILITIES. 63 

of education, says Compayre, is "to substitute the book 
for the wine bottle, the Hbrary for the saloon ; in a word, 
to replace sensation by idea." But, while this is to be 
the teacher's aim, he must always remember that it is 
necessary to appeal to a child through the medium of 
the things which he can appreciate. A child is best 
governed and taught upon his highest plane, but it is not 
possible to awaken interest by appealing to the things 
beyond his comprehension. At first, it is doubtless true 
that the only sphere of feeling for a person is that of 
sensation ; to this, then, we must appeal. Work may be 
made to produce pleasure, and indolence to give pain. 
Right doing may be made agreeable, and wrong doing 
disagreeable. But when the child shows that he thinks 
upon the nature of such matters themselves, and not 
merely upon what they produce as consequences, we 
should appeal to his thought, expect it to awaken proper 
feelings, and gradually discontinue making the acts pleas- 
urable or painful. The satisfaction of right doing, of 
duty performed, of wrong inclination checked, should be- 
gin to be reward enough to stimulate his best endeavor, 
even though the acts themselves may cease to be pleas- 
urable or may become positively painful. The child 
must learn to be obedient, patient, kind, truthful, and to 
practice the other virtues, even though the effort costs 
him much. To neglect giving him this opportunity, or 
even pressing him to its performance, when his mind is 
mature enough to be thus appealed to, is to degrade the 
child and to refuse him one of the best courses of growth 
available to any one. Now an appeal to the pleasures or 
pains of mere sensation should be made only when it is 



64 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

found that the ends of government or teaching cannot 
be secured in the higher realm. 



Methods of Cultivating the Feelings. 

I. By repression. Now that we know what the gen- 
eral aim is to be in the cultivation of the feelings, we 
must inquire into the methods of procedure suited to 
the attainment of this end. For every desirable feeling 
that we may wish to strengthen, we shall be forced to 
reckon with a related undesirable one. It is because of 
the persistence of such injurious feelings, that the prob- 
lem of the culture of proper feeling is so difficult. Hence 
our first method of cultivation is by repression of these 
evils. The human life is not an empty thing into which 
a feeling of some kind may be brought ; if it were so, 
we should be free to choose the desired feeling and then 
strengthen that. But, in fact, feeling of some kind is 
always present with us ; and, when we come to the task 
of developing any kind of feeling, we may find its oppo- 
site already present and pressing to the front in obedi- 
ence to the law of all habit. The latter must be brought 
under control before the life is free to develop in the 
line of its choosing. Not that the wrong must first be 
totally eliminated. That is impossible ; it must be re- 
pressed. 

Now, since all feelings are states of mind, it would 
seem as if the most natural thing to do is to regulate 
directly the flow of ideas which make the feelings pos- 
sible. But while this would undoubtedly be the most 
direct and effective way of reaching the result, were it 



THE FEELINGS, OR SENSIBILITIES. 65 

possible, it is too difficult an undertaking for most peo- 
ple to venture upon. Accordingly we must find an 
easier means of training for children. We have it in the 
management of their bodies. All feeling tends to ex- 
pression through the body ; hence the first thing to have 
a child do in learning to control his feelings, is to have 
him check their expression. If he is angry, there is an 
immediate tendency for it to find expression in rigid 
muscles ; let him force the muscles into relaxation for 
a moment and the anger will largely evaporate. If he 
is sad, there will be the drooping of the muscles of 
the face ; let him force these into the lifted attitude of 
laughter, and sadness will vanish. 

2. By stimulation. But if such a check is the first 
thing to apply in the culture of the feelings, it is only 
that the child may have an opportunity thereby of doing 
something better. When the expression of the undesir- 
able feeling is checked, and the individual has himself 
again in control, it will be for only a short time, provided 
he continues to entertain the thoughts which gave rise 
to the feeling at the first. In this, then, is indicated the 
second natural step. The child must immediately fix 
his mind upon such ideas as will give rise to the feelings 
desired. He must dwell upon these ideas, perform the 
bodily actions which are usually employed in expressing 
such feelings, put himself in the midst of an environment 
which will produce the ideas he wishes — in a word, do 
everything needed to keep the desirable ideas upper- 
most, and then the undesirable ones can have no place. 

The above directions all assume that the child is in 
a state of mind caused by conflicting emotions. Many 



66 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

times we find him in a passive, quiet, but desirable 
mood. Then there is no necessity for repression, but 
we can at once begin stimulation. In this it is encour- 
aging to remember that the oftener we arouse the desir- 
able feelings, the stronger will the tendency to that kind 
of feeling become. As a result of this, we shall find the 
child developing a certain habitual emotional mood. If 
this is of the right kind it will fortify him, as all right hab- 
its do, against the disturbances of opposing wrong ones. 
A person in whom joyous emotion has become habitual 
can rise above the occasional tendencies to depression 
and sadness. This emotional state may be made habitual 
by constantly searching for the bright, encouraging, 
uplifting features in things, — by entertaining suitable 
ideas. 

Another means of stimulating desirable emotions is by 
acting in response to them wJien azvakened. Whenever 
a child has his feeling of pity aroused, he should be 
given an opportunity to do something to relieve the con- 
dition which awakens pity. If his pity is often stirred 
by the artificial, as in the drama, without any result in 
action, he forms the habit of not acting, even when his 
sympathies are touched by real and deserving objects. 
This stage presentation of the pathetic, which we know 
is not accompanied by real suffering, makes the emotions 
artificial, and the result is a hollow sentimentalism. If 
a child is joyous or hopeful, he should be encouraged to 
act in such a way as will bring joy and hope to others. 

Feelings have been spoken of as desirable or undesir- 
able. Is there any basis for this distinction excepting 
that of mere preference 1 Are not certain feelings said 



THE FEELINGS, OR SENSIBILITIES. 6/ 

to be more desirable than others because that affords us 
a ready excuse for our preference ? All painful feelings, 
whether of simple sensation or of the higher emotions, 
as sorrow and fear, are depressing, weakening, and sick- 
ening to both the body and the mind. We might try to 
argue that a thing is wholesome merely because it is 
pleasant to the taste, and unwholesome when it is not 
liked ; but if it positively nauseates, we need no argu- 
ment to convince us that it is not proper for us to eat. 
Now, painful feelings might still be profitable, if the only 
objection to them lay in their being unpleasant ; but 
when we see that they weaken and impair the efficiency 
of the person, we must set them down as an evil, and 
hence, as undesirable. In practice we may be compelled 
to resort to them either in government or in teaching, 
but it should always be with a distinct appreciation of 
the fact that they are then a necessary evil but none the 
less an evil, and they should be put away just as soon as 
the opposite emotions will effect the desired result. 

Pleasurable feelings (either sensuous or emotional, as 
joy and hope) strengthen, invigorate, and render the 
whole being more efficient. Nothing will impair the 
strength and proper working of the bodily functions — 
digestion, circulation, etc. — more quickly than grief or 
anger ; on the other hand, nothing acts as a better 
tonic than joy, love, hope, and the other pleasurable 
feelings. It is just as true that these pleasurable feel- 
ings stimulate the whole mental power to better service 
and are therefore desirable. 

But, while it is evident that pleasure is more valuable 
than pain as the prevalent state of the sensibilities, it 



6S SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

should not be forgotten that the question of quantity of 
either is also important. An intense state of joy — 
delight or ecstacy — is disastrous in its effects upon 
intellectual activity. A person in the height of raptur- 
ous feeling can never think soberly and wisely. Such 
rapture may be a good thing to introduce occasionally 
because of its uplifting and restful effects, but it should 
not be resorted to often. A mental atmosphere that is 
pervaded with hopefulness, kindliness, and joyful interest 
is the atmosphere to cultivate in the schoolroom. Hope- 
lessness is of all things perhaps the most depressing, 
and especially in a child, with such a large future before 
him. But *' quiescence of emotion is the best condition 
for intellectual activity," and even then it must be 
emotion of the right kind. 

Even though pleasure is to be preferred to pain, this 
distinction alone will not carry the teacher far in his 
effort to cultivate the feelings of his pupils. We must 
also determine a scale of excellence in pleasures them-^ 
selves. It is plain that a person may find pleasure in 
that which is low and sensuous, or in that which is ele- 
vating, spiritual, ennobling. What can we take as the 
mark of progress toward this latter end ? Broadly con- 
sidered, we elevate the feelings in proportion as we 
intellectualize them. The pleasure of discovery in truth 
is more to be desired in our pupils than the pleasure 
derived from eating or from the gratification of vanity. 
As the child matures, and his fund of information in- 
creases and his power of thought enlarges, we should 
strive to reveal to him the intellectual element in all his 
lines of enjoyment. It is this element which marks the 



THE FEELINGS, OR SENSIBILITIES. 69 

difference between classical music and pleasing jingles, 
paintings of great artists and mere daubs, literary works 
of great merit and mere stories ; and this is what consti- 
tutes their permanence and value. The shallow music, 
which by its easy jingling character catches and pleases 
the ear, may be taken up by the masses and become for 
a brief time the subject of eager and ungovernable 
desire ; but when the sense has become weary of re- 
sponding to that peculiar and pleasing stimulus, there is 
nothing else in the music to engage the mind and it is 
soon dropped and forgotten. If it ever again becomes 
so popular, it must be with a new generation of persons. 
So it is with all other forms of art ; if the pleasing 
quality in them is merely sensuous, they will cease to 
satisfy the person who is becoming intelligent along 
those lines. He has risen to larger and nobler enjoy- 
ment. It is because of the wealth of meaning which 
addresses itself to the intelligence, in music, or painting, 
or writing, that the classic in them lives and engages the 
admiration of men. It is to this that the child should 
be educated, and in this that he should find his greatest 
enjoyment. Nothing will make this possible to any one 
but habitual contact with that which is grand and signifi- 
cant in all these forms of art, and increased enlighten- 
ment in that which the classic is meant to reveal. 

This purifying of the feelings must receive attention 
in one other domain in our discussion. We have spoken 
of stimulating the feelings to proper response in the dis- 
covery of truth, and also in the revelation of the deeper 
significance of beauty. It remains only to show its possi- 
bilities in the realm of \\\^good, or morals. To many per- 



70 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

sons the term •* conscience " signifies merely the feelings 
that are aroused by doing right or wrong. In truth a 
person's conscience is Jiis jrason applied to his own moral 
conduct ; and, as all reasoning is accompanied by feeling, 
the element of approval or of disapproval will appear. 
Conscience is not, then, a distinct faculty ; but rather a 
name for our dual capacity of intelligence and feeling 
when they are applied to our conduct in the moral realm. 
It is evident, therefore, that the feeling element in con- 
science may be cultivated along two lines, — that of 
certain response to what we in our immaturity have 
grown accustomed to calling right or wrong, and that of 
response to what we in our growing enlightenment know 
is right or wrong. We should make the conscience very 
sensitive to what we think right, and we should improve 
our notions of the right in order that it may be made 
sensitive to only the proper things. In training the 
conscience we need to enlighten the person, while at 
the same time we impress upon him the importance of 
conformity to its dictates. A person of good intentions 
may be very unjust and dangerous because of his igno- 
rance. If we would be good (to any positive purpose), 
therefore, we must be wise. 

How, then, shall this greater enlightenment and 
greater sensitiveness of the conscience be brought 
about 1 Whatever will increase the learner's knowledge, 
strengthen his judgment, and, at the same time, make 
him as fair in applying his true judgment to his own act 
as he is in judging the acts of others, will indirectly train 
his conscience on the side of intelligence. If we add to 
this a special study of the reasonableness of just moral 



THE FEELINGS, OR SENSIBILITIES. /I 

claims, we shall add to the enlightenment of his con- 
science all that the schools can do in a theoretical way. 
But with this it is well to remember that, since morality 
is a matter of practical living, doing the right will open up 
to the individual many items for his judgment which could 
not be apprehended in any other way. We learn some 
things through experience which could not be conveyed 
to us by any other means ; these, then, become items 
which will enter into our future judgments, and we have 
a better basis of fact on which to form a judgment than 
persons can have who have been denied such experiences. 
But most wrong-doing, which forces itself upon our 
attention, does not arise from ignorance ; it arises be- 
cause of a disregard of known obligations. How, then, 
can this greater sensitiveness to the dictates of reason 
in the moral realm be cultivated ? Only by implicit obc- 
diatce to the behests of conscience. He who persistently 
does what he knows is wrong, even though at first his 
conscience may have condemned and tormented him, 
will soon have his sensibilities so blunted that they will 
give him but little if any uneasiness. And when he 
reaches the point of known wrong-doing without any 
accompaniment of uneasiness, there is little hope of his 
reformation, unless his course in life is first checked by 
some great calamity or other unexpected event which 
momentarily rivets his attention and forces him to think. 
On the other hand, he who habitually acts in obedience 
to the dictates of reason in matters of right and wrong, 
whose feelings are the pleasures of self-approval, will 
soon reach a point of refinement in conscience wherein 
right doing will be his first inclination and his greatest joy. 



72 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE WILL. 

A MAN of genius is popularly thought to be one who 
is endowed with some peculiar intellectual quality, which 
fixes his destiny at such a height that, without hard 
work, he can easily outstrip his rivals. We approach 
much nearer to the absolute truth when we declare that 
if a man has an intellect generously though not lavishly 
endowed, and a capacity for intense application, he can 
become a genius. And the most encouraging element 
in this thought is, that this capacity for hard work is 
capable of development, because it is dependent upon 
the will and the will is capable of development. All 
men possess it to some degree, and all may by proper 
effort have it increased. 

By the will we mean '' the soul's capacity to determine 
the extent and kind of its own actions." In childhood 
this power is relatively small and should be exercised for 
only a brief period at a time ; most of the actions are 
then impulsive, or at least non- voluntary. It is well 
that this is so, for a strong will should be coupled with 
a strong judgment. This latter the child does not pos- 
sess, and he must therefore submit to the guidance of 
the maturer judgments of others. Having the faculty 
of self-direction in but a small degree, he is more easily 
diverted, and thus managed in accordance with reason at 
a time when it would be useless to attempt to reason 



THE WILL. 



73 



with him. But as his reason develops we should grad- 
ually withdraw from him the interference of outside 
authority. When we see him in error we may check 
him, but it is not wise to do so even then, unless we see 
that the error carries with it too severe consequences to 
warrant our letting him suffer them. Any other plan of 
exercising authority will render the child permanently 
dependent upon others, and will unfit him for the stern 
requirements of life. 

It should be repeated here that, though we have 
treated the several capacities of the mind as if they were 
distinct powers simply operating in conjunction with each 
other, this is done merely to help us in our study of the 
complicated power called the mind. In this same way 
we analyze things in other sciences, and there is no 
more reason for our forgetting the unity of the mind 
than there is for forgetting the unity of other things 
which have been torn apart, at least in thought, for the 
purpose of study. At no place can this complication, 
and yet the essential unity, be better seen than in the 
study of deliberative action, which we are accustomed to 
call willed action, because its distinctive mark is that of 
control. In the first place, several alternative courses 
are presented to the mind (arousing the feelings) ; they 
may be, say, a day's journey, a day of sport, and a day 
of work with its resultant earnings. Each of these is 
pleasant and inviting. They all, therefore, act as solici- 
tations to the person. But when they produce their 
effect upon his feelings, he cannot act in response to 
them all ; so he exercises his mind (intelligence, thought 
power) in deciding upon the relative worths of the 



74 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

courses. He is very fond of sports, but then when the 
day is done he will have nothing to show for it ; he 
delights in travel, and this will bring him some perma- 
nent things to enjoy in remembrance and to talk about ; 
he is not fond of work more than others are, and yet he 
has certain ambitions which money will help him to 
attain. These ambitions have reference to what is more 
enduring than anything else in his life, and he reflects 
that, with them accomplished, he can travel as much as 
he desires and can get more out of it than he is now 
prepared to get. Being a thoughtful person, he con- 
cludes that the last course is much the best course. 
Still the battle is not won ; he must put forth his mental 
energy (will) in choosing what his good judgment has 
decided is best, and in repelling the strong inclinations 
of his life toward present pleasure in sport or travel ; 
and he must persist in the exercise of his will till the 
end is reached and the task is fully executed. Persons 
fail many times in not putting forth the necessary energy 
to initiate a proper course of action ; they fail, perhaps 
quite as often, by not persisting in the right course till 
the end is reached and the reward gained. 

Though examples like the above can be seen every 
day in the people about us, still there are those who 
deny the freedom of the will. This is no place for dis- 
cussion upon such a topic, but it will be well to examine 
some of the errors in the opinion and to set teachers 
right with respect to the meaning of a free will. To 
many, freedom means the privilege to do as one pleases. 
With such a meaning there is no free will, for we are all 
limited by our inborn and acquired capacity, by the de- 



THE WILL 



75 



mands of environment, and by the inexorable require- 
ments of time, space, etc. But the privilege to do as 
one pleases can mean nothing in a community of social 
beings but license and a rule of might. If each man 
starts with the privilege to do as he pleases, soon several 
will wish to do what will make demands upon others, 
what will require more than one at a given place at one 
time, etc. ; now, it is simply a question of power, and 
then, the ones that are overpowered have their privileges 
denied them by others. To overcome such a reign of 
power and interference, law is necessary. This circum- 
scribes the scope of action for each individual so as to 
prevent a clashing of interests, and to make each a par- 
taker, in the highest degree, of the accomphshments of 
all. Freedom then becomes that condition ivhich is 
brought about by an implicit obedience to all just laiv. 
Whether the law is moral, natural, or civil, the indi- 
vidual is free within each domain only in proportion to 
his obedience within that domain. He may be a free 
man in the civil sense and be in moral bondage. It 
is evident, then, that an increase in the number of just 
prohibitory laws which are enforced must mean an in- 
crease in popular freedom, because it circumscribes the 
field of action of the intruder by just so much — there 
being no just prohibitory laws excepting those which 
prohibit an infraction of other people's rights. 

But when we speak of free will we cannot mean free- 
dom even in the legitimate sense given above, for man 
has the power to disobey law (though he may be com- 
pelled to suffer the consequences of his disobedience), 
and we call this power his free will. Just what do we 



^6 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

mean, then, by free will ? We mean man's capacity to 
select, from among the alternatives presented to him, 
that which he intends to follow. 

But some object, saying, ''Is not man bound to follow 
the strongest motive, and therefore is he not lacking in 
freedom ? " What, then, does the strongest motive mean ? 
Motives are not forces operating upon men to which 
those men are bound to surrender. Motives are con- 
ditions within the individual's own mind ; they are not 
physical powers. A thing possesses motive worth for a 
man only in proportion as his mind responds to it, not in 
proportion to any energy inherent in it. Use anything 
as a motive for a class of persons ; it will not affect 
them all with the same force. If used with the same 
person on two different occasions, it is not likely to affect 
him in the same manner both times. This is not 
because it is resisted more at one time than at another, 
or by one person more than by another. No resistance 
is put forth ; the person is simply indifferent to it. If 
it were a physical power, it would operate upon them all 
alike, and upon any one with the same force each time ; 
the only reason it would not produce the same external 
effect each time is, because the different persons resist 
it with different degrees of energy. But, if this is pos- 
sible, and we see it actually done, then the motive might 
even be regarded as a physical force and the person 
would still be free, for his freedom is manifested in his 
resistance. That which gives to anything a value as a 
motive is the attitude of the individual's mind toward 
the thing. It is fair, then, to assert that a man always 
follows the strongest motive ; but, at the same time, it 



THE WILL. 77 

must be remembered that he makes it the strongest by 
directing his mind to it as he does, and in this part Hes 
his free will. 

By this it is not meant that a person is entirely 
untrammeled by environment or past experience. These 
are always entering as interferences ; but they are 
merely conditions, and not forces of which man is the 
product. With an environment that encourages ener- 
getic growth in the right direction, and a persistent 
effort on the part of the individual, a man can accom- 
plish more than he can if a great part of his energy is 
exhausted in resisting and altering the environing con- 
ditions which would drag him down. But the simple 
fact that he can rise above his environment, that he can 
become a power for good out of the very midst of an 
environment of evil, is evidence of his free will. 

It is nearer the truth to assert that a man is at any 
time just what his past experiences (of which his free 
choices form an important item) have made him. If he 
has lived in bondage to evil habits, he will be enslaved ; 
if he has lived in the pure atmosphere of a holy purpose, 
he will be elevated and pure in character ; if he has 
been satisfied with superficial views of things, he will be 
superficial ; if he has given himself up an easy prey to 
passing and uncertain moods, he will be a victim of inde- 
cision of character. In a word, whatever has entered 
into his experience has stamped itself indelibly upon his 
life and has done its share toward the formation of ac- 
cumulated tendencies of that life. But this does not 
detract one iota from his free will. It simply means 
that his present entire condition is an effect of all his 



yS SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

past. If that present condition is in the main an unde- 
sirable one, it means that the man has that much more 
to overcome should he, in the exercise of his freedom, set 
about the formation of a desirable character ; on the 
other hand, if that condition is one with a preponder- 
ance of right, it means that the individual will be sup- 
ported by just that much in the use of his freedom in 
strengthening his character. 

Adopting, then, the language of James Mark Baldwin, 
we can say : " Freedom, therefore, is a fact, if by it we 
mean the expression of one's self as conditioned by past 
choices and present environment. It is not a fact in 
any sense which denies that volition is thus conditioned, 
first, upon the actual content of consciousness as it 
swings down the tide of personal life and presses out- 
ward for motor expression ; and second, upon the 
environing circumstances which draw the motor con- 
sciousness out. Free choice is a synthesis, the outcome 
of which is, in every case, conditioned upon its elements, 
but in no case caused by them. A logical inference is 
conditioned upon its premises, but it is not caused by 
them. Both inference and choice express the nature of 
the conscious principal and the unique method of its 
life." 

But what reasons can be adduced for regarding the 
development of the will as important } In the first 
place, it is at the basis of all one's power of attention. It 
is granted that the mind cannot continue to give undi- 
vided attention, for a long time, to that which is unin- 
teresting ; but, at the same time, it is true that, if the 
will is strong, the attention can be directed to the 



THE WILL. 79 

uninteresting thing, and its truth uncovered, so that, 
before the energy of a strong will is exhausted, the 
thing will become interesting. If study is to be valu- 
uable it must be made a serious business, and not 
mere child's play. This does not mean that it should 
be made uninteresting and uninviting, in order that it 
may serve to develop greater robustness of character. 
Food is not valuable in proportion as it is disgusting 
and nauseating; but between substantial food, that is 
palatable and inviting, and mere sweets, unfitted to 
serve as regular diet, there is a great difference. So 
study may be made a serious business, and, at the same 
time, be made invigorating, enjoyable, and rich with 
promise and hopefulness. The objection lies in an 
attempt to remove all of its difficulties, to save the child 
from all necessity of effort, and to toy him into learning. 
This may do as an attitude of a kindergarten, but, as 
the child advances, his highest joy should come from 
the consciousness of a developing power that can over- 
come difficulties, not from the realization that there is 
some one near him to remove them. 

In the second place, a developed will is at the founda- 
tion of one's self-mastery in every domain. Evil incli- 
nations are to be resisted and removed. To yield to 
them means to retard the growth of good character, and 
to enslave the person. Only a developed will can inhibit 
the expression and consequent strengthening of such 
inchnations. Tendencies to ease and indifference, when 
duties are pressing upon us, must be overcome. Only 
a will, habituated to acting vigorously in response to the 
dictates of reason, can be relied upon to accomplish this. 



86 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Whether the self-mastery is in the direction of concen- 
trated effort toward the accomphshment of work, or the 
repression of incHnations which should not be gratified, 
the same strong^ will is requisite for either. Such self- 
control, it should be remembered, comes to most persons 
only by hard work persevered in for a long time. But, 
though it requires such unbroken and prolonged effort 
for most persons to win the victory of self-mastery, it 
pays large returns for the outlay. ''He that is slow to 
anger is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth his 
spirit than he that taketh a city." 

In the third place, the most important agent in the 
formation of what we call character is will. This capacity 
for self-direction, if strengthened, can overcome every 
other element which enters into the problem of character 
building. It is clearly recognized that one's inheritance 
may interfere greatly with his efforts at self-development. 
Abnormal tendencies, which interfere with the even 
balance of a life, may fall to one as a birthright. But 
the establishment of schools and reform institutions of 
every kind stands out as a public protest against the 
claim that one's inheritance settles unchangeably his 
character. These things are maintained as opportunities 
for persons who wz// to develop themselves into the best 
of which they are capable. No one will seriously argue 
that a person born with only one talent is capable of 
development into the splendid symmetrical manhood 
that may characterize the person born with ten talents. 
But it needs not a philosopher to maintain the claim that 
a person born with ten talents may, // /le lacks perse- 
vering industry^ fall far below the level of attainment 



THE WILL. 8 1 

reached by an earnest worker born with much less of 
native endowment. 

Man should not be compared with man in estimating 
his development. Each man should be compared with 
his own past. Not what absolute strength has been 
attained, but what proportion of increase has been made, 
determines the excellence of his progress. The school 
is doing its best work, and is aiming at the most prac- 
ticable end, when it is so planned that it affords an 
opportunity for each pupil to make of himself the best 
of which he is capable. This, each child has a moral 
right to become ; but the only power that will make it 
possible for him to attain such an end, even in the midst 
of the greatest opportunities, is this power of self- 
direction, — the will. 

Neither is it forgotten that a hurtful environment 
enslaves many men, and serves as a great hindrance to 
the easy development of a pure character, in all. But 
this, too, must fail in its attempt to conquer the man of 
will. Poverty, filth, and moral pollution may be great 
and serious drawbacks to the development of manly 
character. Food, clothing, and the other necessaries of 
life must be secured first to maintain life, before we can 
do anything toward lifting men to the level attainable by 
those who are more fortunately circumstanced. But in 
the very act of securing these things, the moral character 
may be developed into magnificent strength. And the 
will, which is requisite for their attainment, gets some of 
its best culture in the very activity rendered necessary 
by these demands. Not that we regard a training in 
the school of toil as necessary to the production of a 



82 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Strong will ; but it is encouraging to remember that even 
the stern demands of existence may contain a hidden 
blessing. Wealth, as popularly measured, is simply an 
objective possession, and must not be regarded as an 
index of any strength of soul. A man who, because of 
adverse circumstances, may have failed to accumulate 
much objective wealth, may still get, as a return for 
his exercise of will, greater wealth of character than has 
ever entered into the thought of his more comfortable 
neighbor. 

But, notwithstanding these objective differences, we 
still maintain that neither heredity nor environment can 
fix the destiny of a man. The most potent factor in 
settling that destiny, as evidenced by his character, is 
the man's own will. This power alone can overcome 
the effects of evil inheritance, and remove the objec- 
tionable elements in an undesirable environment. 

Character might be briefly described as the sum of 
the habits which one has established in his life. By 
habits we must then include habits of thought and of 
feeling as well as of action. These settle what a man is 
at any given time, and what his potential capacities then 
are. If habit is so comprehensive a term in the estab- 
lishment of a life, its formation must be of great moment 
to teachers. To this problem, then, we must next address 
ourselves. 

In brief, a habit is established by repeatedly perform- 
ing an act, and it is destroyed by refraining from the 
performance of the act. In no other way can a habit 
be established and in no other way can a habit that 
has been formed be removed. Simply to refrain from 



THE WILL. 83 

action may not be sufficient for a life, but, whatever else 
is done, nothing will break down a habit but refraining 
from the action which has become habitual. 

The most important thing to do at the outset, in the 
formation of a habit, is to surrozmd the child with every- 
thing at your command which will add to his strength 
and enlarge his confidence in ultimate success. To this 
end the child should be assured of the teacher's interest 
and support. He will be greatly helped if he has the 
advantages of the habit pointed out to him. The en- 
thusiasm of numbers, which may be secured by having 
several engaged in the formation of a given habit, will 
do much to insure success. The spirit of rivalry, which 
is so potent a factor in sports, may thus be reasonably 
employed. If he can be brought to sign a written 
pledge willingly, or to make a verbal promise to a friend, 
the course will be justified by the additional motive which 
it furnishes for faithfulness, and also by the importance 
which attaches to the end, the question of such promise 
being not a normal but only a prudential one. Any 
righteous course which will make the child enthusiastic 
in his undertaking and determined to succeed will be 
wise. Everything possible should be done to keep him 
in a vigorous and hopeful frame of mind. 

When he is thus wisely started, he should be urged 
to suffer no exceptions to occur. Indecision of character, 
lack of persistency of effort, failure to respond when 
the conditions exist, are elements which will prove fatal 
to the formation of desirable habits. The attempt to 
"taper off" has proved to be the cause of utter defeat 
in many a life, struggling earnestly but unwisely for self- 



84 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

mastery. Each lapse in the attempt to break down a 
bad habit (which can be safely done only by putting in 
its place a contrary good one) will undo more than can 
be repaired by many successes. 

In the attempt to establish proper habits we should 
begin as early as possible in life ; then we shall find the 
smallest number of disturbing conditions. While there 
are no strong inclinations established in any direction, it 
is easy to set the current of life flowing in the line of 
our choice. But every day that we allow to pass before 
beginning to give earnest attention to this matter in- 
creases the difficulty of our undertaking. Like Rip 
Van Winkle we may refuse to count this time, and 
deceive ourselves with the thought that, if we are not 
meaning to fix a habit, no habit is being formed. But 
then we forget that each day we are acting somehow, 
either in the direction of the habit which is to be formed 
later or in another direction, and that each act registers 
its effects upon our organism and leaves us, in conse- 
quence, either better or more poorly provided for the 
struggle of life. The simple fact of life is that we are 
every moment forming habits, whether we mean to or 
not, and if we do not rule our actions so as to form 
proper habits, the improper ones, formed during our 
time of neglect, will soon rule us. No truth is more 
certainly established than this, that a habit once formed 
tends to exclude the possibility of forming any contrary 
one, and that an act performed has left its permanent 
impress upon the life, and done its part toward the 
formation of a habit. 

But little needs to be said in the way of definite 



THE WILL. 85 

directions for the development of the will. From the 
outset, we should assume its presence in the child, and 
call upon him to exercise it. If he seems to be more 
than ordinarily lacking in strength of will, that fact will 
doubtless be manifested by his acting simply in response 
to his feelings. If he has an inclination to action in a 
certain questionable direction, he will follow that inclina- 
tion, and offer as a sufficient reason for so doing that 
he feels like it. If he has no inclination to act when 
a duty calls him to do so, he will dismiss the obligation 
and offer as his reason that he does not feel like doing it. 

When a person is found in such a state as this he 
needs teaching along several important lines. He needs 
to have his sense of obligation aroused. This can be 
done best by showing him the advantages accruing from 
the performance of duty, and the consequences which 
he must suffer for its neglect. Prudential reasons will 
appeal to a person until his larger enlightenment and 
moral sense reveal to him the real worth of right doing. 
We must not expect the little child to be judicious, so 
it is necessary that the teacher's judgment should be 
made to serve him, and this can be revealed through 
commands, backed up by rewards and punishments when 
necessary. In general, it is better to secure results, if 
possible, through the application of pleasure than 
through that of pain. But results must be secured, 
and, if the highest motive is found to be inoperative 
in any instance, resort must be had to a motive so far 
down the scale that it will meet the child's present 
needs, and receive from him a vigorous response. 

During all this time the child should be taught the 



86 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

reasons for the course which he is directed to follow. 
Thus he will be educated to act in the light of reason, 
rather than from the simple matter of feeling. It is 
not meant that we should permit the child to argue 
when he is directed to act, and that we should give him 
our reasons as a condition of receiving his obedience. 
Rather, he should obey because a righteous authority 
has directed him to do so ; and, when he has obeyed, as 
well as at times when no commands have been issued, 
we should educate him to know the reasons that guide 
our course. This will usually be found to be the only 
wise corrective for what is called a '* self-willed child." 
It would be possible to make such a child yield to 
superior force, but then we arouse in him all the bitter 
feelings of antagonism which he can command ; and, 
when the force is even momentarily withdrawn, he re- 
bounds to his evil course as a bow that has been drawn. 
We have produced no charge in the enlightenment of 
the child, and he is as much bound as ever to have his 
own way, regardless of the cost to others or of the 
sacrifice of his own reason. It may be necessary to 
apply superior force in order to get him to listen to 
reason, but we should regard our task as only just 
begun when we have him at that point. Breaking the 
will might possibly produce a manageable slave, cower- 
ing under the lash of a hard taskmaster ; but only the 
enlightenment of the will can make a free man. 

In all the development of the will, whether it be in 
forming the habit of earnest application or in strength- 
ening the power of self-control, there is no more potent 
factor than personal example. Children are quite ready 



THE WILL. Sy 

readers of human character ; and, when they see their 
elders prospering, either in the midst of a hfe of idle- 
ness or a life of self-indulgence, they are likely to 
argue that, if success and satisfaction in life can be 
secured at so small a cost, there is not much use of 
their paying a higher price for them. Upon the teacher, 
then, rests, in an especial manner, the responsibility of 
living and acting in such a way that the children, tak- 
ing their pattern from him, will employ their wills always 
in response to an enlightened reason, and thus develop 
within themselves that power which can shape their 
destiny. 



8S SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER IX. 
ATTENTION. 

If by a faculty we mean the soul's capacity or ability 
to do a distinct kind of work, it is evident that atten- 
tion should not be classed as a faculty. There is no 
new kind of work involved in an exercise of attention ; 
it is simply a name for an especial manner of doing the 
various forms of work already indicated. We cannot 
perceive, remember, imagine, and think, and, in addition 
to all these, give attention. To attend is rather to do 
any of these others wit/i care. To attend to the note of 
a bird means to listen to it with care, — put effort and 
thought into the listening. To attend to a lesson means 
to look at what is presented in it, listen to what is said 
about it, think about what is involved in it, and do 
all these things with care and energy. Each of the 
intellectual faculties furnishes its own peculiar type of 
knowledge ; attention furnishes nothing new as they do. 
If we are not engaged in earnest with anything, if we 
do not look, listen, think, 'imagine, or exercise any of 
our powers with a measurable degree of concentration, 
we are not exercising attention. If we do focus our 
consciousness through the avenue of any of the faculties, 
we are exercising attention. Attention is thus seen to 
be rather a condition under which the faculties may 
operate than a separate faculty. But, if attention is 
not to be classed as a faculty, it is so important as an 



ATTENTION. 89 

element in learning that it can with profit engage our 
thought -in this place. 

It is customary to divide attention into two classes or 
phases called reflex or non-voluntary attention and vol- 
untary attention. The reflex form is that which is drawn 
from us as a nervous response to a stimulus from without, 
and is dependent chiefly upon some element within the 
thing to which attention is given. As would naturally 
be expected, therefore, it is flitting, changeable, uncertain, 
— a sort of butterfly activity. It is to be expected in 
children ; and, when it predominates and is developed, 
it accounts for the need of a large and varied assort- 
ment of playthings for the nursery. Little and unim- 
portant things have some attraction, but it is only for a 
moment, and then they must be dismissed to make way 
for others, and thus a constant round of newness is 
kept up. Clearly, then, whoever would rely upon the 
non-voluntary attention of his pupils as the way to suc- 
cessful teaching must surround himself with an almost 
endless array of attractive and varied devices, and de- 
velop within himself great skill in their use. But he 
must also expect, if this is relied upon exclusively, to 
have as the result of his labors a class of young people 
contented only when attracted, unfitted for the sterner 
requirements of life, and unmoved by anything like the 
imperatives of duty. 

The voluntary attention is that which is given by us 
to an object of our choice, and which is not primarily 
dependent upon any element within the thing attended 
to, but, rather, upon our own effort. From this we can 
readily judge that it is permanent, certain, and capable 



90 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

of giving a stability to character which difficulties cannot 
easily baffle. This type of attention is to be looked for 
only in those of developed strength, and is rather an end 
to be secured by our teaching than a condition to be 
expected in the child. It is this more than any other 
endowment that distinguishes the man of genius from 
the ordinary man. It is this phase of attention that we 
should strive to develop through our teaching. Indeed, 
the results of developed reflex attention are so unsatis- 
factory, they give to the individual so little command of 
himself and make him so unfitted to command others, 
they rob him so completely of his proper independence 
and force him to rely so much upon circumstances, that 
it seems an unwise use of terms to call it attention ; 
because whatever is done to strengthen within a person 
the habit of non-voluntary attention and to encourage 
him to rest in it, is just so much toward erecting a bar- 
rier in the way of that strength and force of character 
which mark the person of developed voluntary attention. 
We are naturally attracted to some things and not to 
others, and, as our minds are habitually active, we may 
expect them to act in the line of these attractions. It 
is proper that we should make use of such tendencies, in 
selecting material that shall win to study and effort as 
against idleness and indifference ; but we should remem- 
ber that these are only expedients justified by circum- 
stances, and not conditions to be developed. If we can 
develop within a child the determination to conquer, and 
we can do so by means of a pleasure that will overcome 
inertia and arouse activity, we are justified in employ- 
ing the pleasure ; but we must guard carefully against 



ATTENTION. 9 1 

making pleasure the sole condition of activity. The 
pupil who can by force of will direct his thought to that 
which should be done, whether it is pleasant to do or 
not, is the pupil who is fitted to succeed in life. The 
one who through habit must permit his thought to be 
swayed to and fro, because of winning elements that 
appear in his environment, is a slave to circumstances. 
He does not yet know what freedom is. It is not meant 
by this that we should resist things simply because they 
are interesting ; that which interests and attracts us 
may be a very proper object of voluntary attention. 
But it is meant to teach that we are not to refuse atten- 
tion to things because they fail to present elements of 
interest. 

With the mind thoughtfully centered upon an object of 
study, elements previously unseen will be made to ap- 
pear ; about these, new interests will center ; and thus it 
is seen that well-directed attention develops interest. 
It is generally found true that the person most vitally 
interested in any department of learning is the person 
who has most fully mastered it. What we know best 
we are usually most interested in, and that not because 
the interest is primal, but because, having given the sub- 
ject our undivided attention, we have been rewarded 
with the knowledge and with the accompanying interest. 
It is true that we ought not to expect from children 
undivided attention to that which continues uninterest- 
ing ; but we should expect them to strive, because the 
thing is present to be done, and, having the will thus 
wisely exercised, we may add to the employment all the 
joy and hopefulness that we can. But let us remember 



92 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

that the most lasting joy is the joy of overcoming 
obstacles in the way of our growth, and the most buoy- 
ant hopefulness is that which results from the conscious- 
ness of a deserved supremacy. A reasonable inference 
from this is, that we should so" gauge the capacity of the 
learner and the difficulty of the assigned task that we 
will not demand the impossible or the too difficult ; 
another is, that we should resort to artificial attractions 
only when the attention cannot be sufficiently aroused 
by the natural attraction which attends mastered diffi- 
culties. 

One other item of great moment deserves specific 
treatment in the discussion of attention. It is mind- 
wandering. This is the condition that exists whenever 
a person, presumably engaged in some serious occupa- 
tion, awakes to find that he has not been thinking about 
that which he seems to have been doing, but has been 
following a train of thought that simply happened to 
cross his mind. Persons with whom such practices have 
become habitual often deplore the fact and wish them- 
selves well rid of the habit, but the methods they pursue 
tend constantly to strengthen the disposition, even while 
they are lamenting their bondage. They begin a study ; 
they pass with success over several pages ; at last the 
act of turning to the next page arouses them, and they 
discover that they know nothing of what they seemed to 
be looking at upon the previous page. What, now, is 
the ordinary manner of treating themselves ? Too fre- 
quently it is to allow the usurping train of thought to be 
indulged in till it has been finished ; then they leisurely 
betake themselves to the task which ought never to 



ATTENTION. 93 

have been dismissed, and congratulate themselves because 
they have not abandoned it entirely. The better way, 
indeed, the only way, to effectually correct mind- wander- 
ing is to apply a more vigorous remedy at one particular 
point. Just as soon as the person becomes aware of the 
fact that his mind is not upon that which he seems to 
be doing, he should check himself. This may require 
severe measures, but it is well worth the effort. He 
should use any expedient at his command, but by all 
means he should stop himself before the intriLciiiig train 
of thought has been cai^ried to its issue. Let him close 
his eyes, clench his fists, change his bodily attitude, utter 
aloud each word upon the page before him, point the 
finger with energy upon each word as he says it — in 
short, resort to any reasonable device for keeping him- 
self at the assigned task till it is finished. Then, if he 
wishes, he may take up the line of thought that was 
suggested, but not before. This does not mean that we 
are never to allow ourselves the pleasure of leisurely 
following our trains of suggested thoughts ; that may be 
a very pleasant and harmless pastime. But it does mean 
that we should absolutely never give way to intruding 
lines of suggestion, which cross our course when we are 
engaged in serious study. It is the habit of undivided 
attention that we should seek to cultivate, and the pupil 
who allows distracting elements to intrude, even to the 
extent of interrupting his study by habitually turning 
the head to see who is entering a room, is thereby rob- 
bing himself of a strength which he might possess. 

What, now, are the specific guides for the culture of 
this important power of attention ? 



94 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

1. Vary the work so as not to produce unnecessary 
weariness. For any one set of pupils have memory 
studies, art studies, reasoning studies, etc., properly 
alternated. 

2. Let periods of study alternate with periods of phys- 
ical and mental freedom. Whenever the child studies, 
encourage him to work with energy ; then afford him 
proper time to cease work entirely. Do not customarily 
allow work to continue and drag along indefinitely. 
Short and decisive periods of work followed by definite 
periods of complete relaxation will strengthen the power 
and the habit of attention. 

3. If signs of ill health or overwork are observed, 
relieve the pupil or remove him for the time from the 
scene of intense mental activity. This applies especially 
to the child about thirteen or fourteen years of age, who 
is easily affected by nervous disorders, and particularly 
so if he is found to have any physical weakness or if his 
normal growth is suddenly hindered. Intense effort at 
this time is likely to prove detrimental to the child's 
later well-being. 

4. Afford all possible occasions for the child to use 
his new knowledge. When the child can be led to see 
that what he is learning fits him for the things older 
people do, it will give to his studies new interests and 
will encourage attention. 

5. So prepare for your teaching that you can gen- 
erally be free from the text-book or other aids while be- 
fore your class. This freedom will arouse the pupil's 
confidence and encourage him to a like strength and in- 
dependence. Pupils will not generally attend to that 
which they are led to think is not worth while* 



ATTENTION. 95 

6. Frequently resort to competitive exercises such as 
will tax the powers of pupils. Let these be opportu- 
nities for tests of strength rather than required duties. 
They may be made up of difficult mathematical prob- 
lems, pronunciation, spelling, etc. 

7. In teaching make your statements so clear and 
definite that the pupil need not be perplexed and dis- 
turbed by words. Mental confusion leads to hopeless- 
ness, and in children it will soon paralyze effort. 

8. Special drill exercises for the culture of attention 
may be used with profit. The following will be found 
valuable : Rapid work in the simpler parts of arithmetic, 
such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, 
fractions, etc. ; spelling by having each child in succes- 
sion name one letter of the word ; pronouncing sentences 
or lists of unrelated words, and having children repro- 
duce them orally or in writing (such sentences or lists of 
words must be quite short at first and be gradually 
lengthened) ; presenting complicated objects or sets of 
objects for a very brief period of time and having pupils 
name all they can see ; performing before the class some 
action which will require voice, hands, feet, etc., and 
having children describe fully what they have observed. 
Such exercises should not be kept up longer than two or 
three mmutes at a time, and should be done with all the 
force the child can summon. If it is made to appear as 
a game, the best results will generally be secured. It is 
wise for the teacher to keep an exact record of the best 
the class can do in the several exercises, and at inter- 
vals to note their progress. 

9. When the class specially needs training along the 



96 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

line of attention, let the teacher ask questions before 
naming the one who is to recite. This demands a like 
effort from all, but is a useless tax upon the energies of 
children if invariably used when the class is attentive 
without it. 

10. Be careful not to divert the child's thought from 
the real purpose of the lesson. Teaching by experiment 
or other illustration sometimes draws the child's thought 
away from the truth to be impressed and rivets it upon 
the sound or flash or other attraction in the experiment. 
He is giving attention, but it is to the wrong thing. 



PART II. 
GENERAL PHILOSOPHY OF METHOD. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE NOTION, OR CONCEPT. 

In the order of reality as it is found in the world, the 
units are commonly spoken of as ''things." These may 
be material bodies, immaterial relations and forces, or 
even states of mind. These realities or things about 
which we are said to think are always single and con- 
crete — exist as individuals. But these individuals pos- 
sess hkenesses which serve as the basis of what are 
termed ''classes." These classes do not exist above the 
things as something superior to them, nor are they in 
any way separated from them ; in so far as they can 
be said to exist at all, they exist in the things which 
are spoken of as members of the class. It is well for 
the student to learn at the outset that classes are not 
things in the sense that individuals are, and that classes 
do not exist in the same manner in which things are 
said to exist. It is not possible to find in the world of 
realities this horse, that horse, and the other horse, and, 
side by side zvith these, horse in general. But, though 
classes have no such separate existence as things have, 
they are real., The class is merely the sum total of the 

97 



98 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

similar individuals which compose it, considered in their 
related character. 

The human intellect can be exercised, therefore, only 
in connection with truth considered either in reference 
to individual realities, or in reference to classes as above 
described. If this mental activity is put forth simply to 
represent single things or classes of things, the product 
is called an idea, a notion, or a concept. Now, in form- 
ing these notions, we may represent the individual and 
its constituent parts, to the neglect of the class idea, and 
the product is called an individual notion, an individual 
concept, or an image. Again, we may dwell upon the 
likenesses among the individuals of a class to such an 
extent as to lose sight of the peculiarities of these indi- 
viduals ; in this case we are emphasizing the class idea, 
and the product is called a general notion or general con- 
cept. In language each of these notions is expressed by 
words or by phrases, but not by sentences. 

If the word or phrase stands for a single thing, as 
Julius Caesar, this block, Pennsylvania, that kind act of 
A., it names an individual notion. 

If the word or phrase stands for a class of things, as 
man, block, state, the kindness of man, it names a gen- 
eral notion. 

But we are able to do more than merely represent 
mentally either single things or classes. We are able to 
compare the clearly formed notions with each other, and 
the product of this comparison, or noting of relations, is 
called a judgment. In language the judgment is ex- 
pressed by a sentence. The treatment of judgments 
will be postponed to a later section (see page 117). 



THE NOTION, OR CONCEPT. 99 

In order to add clearness to this discussion we will 
examine the different mental faculties which are em- 
ployed in producing notions, and thus learn which type 
of notion each faculty is capable of producing. 

I. When I think about any matter, as a problem in 
arithmetic, a pleasant excursion, the weather, or the 
righteousness of my own desires, I am able to know that 
thinking is what is taking place at the time ; as I have 
experiences of sadness or joy, of hope or fear, of pity or 
contempt, or any other form of feeling, I am immediately 
aware of it ; if my will is exercised either in directing 
action or in preventing it, that also is known to me at 
the time. The power we all possess of thus knowing 
our own states of mind is called by many consciousness. 
All that we can be conscious of at any given time is the 
actual mental state present at that time. Conscious 
suffering must be actual suffering. Consciousness of a 
mental power can mean nothing except when the power 
is in exercise. Consciousness does not reveal to man 
the mcaiiitig of any mental state, its significance in terms 
of a world of things ; it reports to him the existence of a 
certain mental state as a fact of his personal experience, 
and that fact, not its significance, is the object of knowl- 
edge. This being true, it is evident that consciousness 
gives to us only individual notions. 

2. Besides the world of ideas known in consciousness, 
there is also a world of material things that may be 
known. Objects that are about us affect our organs of 
sense, and thus produce in us states of mind called sen- 
sations. Perception is the power we have of interpreting 
the raw materials of sensation and thus of knowing a 



lOO SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

world of things immediately present to our senses. But, 
since only individuals exist in the world of things, the 
knowledge thus acquired is of individuals only, never of 
classes, and hence perception furnishes us the individual 
notion. By this it is not meant that we can thoroughly 
know individuals without any reference to the correspond- 
ing class ideas ; the interpretation of a sense impression 
requires the use of our class notions. But since the 
entire miftd is active in all mental activities, we name each 
act by naming the dominant phase in it ; and, since that 
which occupies the center of attention is that to which 
the mind is said to be predominantly directed, we speak 
of knowing through any process that which is the center 
of our effort, no matter how many aids we may summon 
in the effort. In order to know the object before me as 
a pear, I must call into service my general notion of 
pear, and interpret, in the light of that notion, the vari- 
ous impressions received from this one object. But still, 
in seeing a pear, my attention is directed less to the 
notions within my mind and more to the object which is 
said to be affecting my mind ; less to the various pro- 
cesses involved in the complex act of knowing and more 
to the thing known, — the individual pear. Thus we are 
justified in saying that perception deals only with indi- 
viduals, and hence furnishes us individual notions. 

3. All the ideas of the mind may be reproduced, and, 
when reproduced, they may be recognized. This power 
to recognize objects and ideas, or to know them again as 
having been known before, is called memory. Since 
the memory is a faculty which does not acquire 7ie'w 
truth, but merely recognizes the old when it is repro- 



THE NOTION, OR CONCEPT, ID I 

duced, we need not consider the type of notion with 
which it deals. It is concerned with the reinstated no- 
tions from all the other faculties. 

4. In consciousness and in perception the things 
known are present, and are immediately affecting the 
mind which knows them. But in our knowing we are not 
confined to the things which may be immediately recog- 
nized ; our knowledge can extend to things which do 
not affect our senses at the time, and which are therefore 
said to be absent from us. Following an accurate verbal 
description we may, by combining the elements of past 
experiences, come to know things which we have never 
witnessed, — the customs of a foreign people, the archi- 
tecture of a great city, the landscape in a distant clime, 
etc. But even this is not the end. That which does 
not really exist can, by virtue of this power to combine 
old mental elements into new mental wholes, be antici- 
pated in thought, and when this thought becomes actu- 
alized in a thing, we have the product of man's invention. 
This power which the soul possesses of combining old 
ideas into new wholes is called imagination. But, as 
the product of imagination is always a definite mental 
picture, and as such pictures are always the representa- 
tives of single things (never of classes), the imagination 
furnishes only individual notions. 

5. But one other mental faculty concerned in the for- 
mation of notions remains to be considered ; that is the 
faculty of thought. As we learned in a previous chap- 
ter, there are three stages of thought, — conception, 
judgment, and reasoning, — which give us three products 
of varying complexity. But as only one of these, con- 



I02 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

ception, is employed in representing reality, while the 
other two stages unfold truths about reality, we shall 
occupy ourselves in this place with the first only. It is 
not to be understood that these three operations are 
carried on separately, that conception as an activity is 
completed and that judgment then begins. Rather, we 
tJdnk, and in the process the predominant element, no 
matter how many adjuncts have been used, is the for- 
mation of a notion ; this act we call conceiving, and the 
power or faculty we call conception. Again, we think, 
and, in the process, the predominant element is the 
comparing of concepts in such a manner as to produce 
a thought which is capable of being expressed in a 
sentence ; this act of thought we call judging, and the 
product secured, as well as the power to secure it, we 
call judgment. In any concrete thought experience 
carried on for a definite time, it is not possible to tell 
just what part of it is conceiving and what part is judg- 
ing ; we can separate these only by an arbitrary mental 
analysis of experience, just as in fact it is not possible 
to separate the form and the color of the object before 
me, though I can think of them as if they did exist 
apart. In the third place, we think, and the predominant 
element is the comparing of judgments in such a way 
as to produce another thought capable again of being 
expressed in a sentence ; this act of thought, which 
consists in the comparison of judgments, we call reason- 
ing. But all that directly concerns us for the present 
is this simplest form of thought, that which is employed 
in representing reality, but is not concerned in unfold- 
ing truths about reality. 



THE NOTION, OK CONCEPT. IO3 

In returning from this seeming digression, which is 
intended to clear the way for future discussion by an- 
ticipating difficulties sure to arise in practice, let me 
repeat, that any mental content ivhich serves to represent 
realities, either as individuals or in classes, is called a 
notion or concept. If this mental content is made to 
represent a single thing, if it is a definite mental image 
of either perception or imagination, it is called an indi- 
vidual notion or individual concept. If it is made to 
represent a class of things, if it is not reducible to a 
single definite mental image, it is called a general notion 
or general concept. The mental faculty required for 
the production of such general notions or general con- 
cepts is thought, but thought in the capacity of con- 
ception. 

But even though general concepts are not definite 
mental images, there is a pronounced tendency on the 
part of learners to represent them by images. This 
tendency arises doubtless from the fact that so much of 
our mental habit has been developed in imaging single 
things, and also from the fact that it is easier to let an 
image stand for a class in a vague sort of way than it is 
to think the class comprehensively. Accordingly, when 
a class name like horse is mentioned and our minds are 
allowed to dwell upon what it signifies, we have a series 
of images of individual horses pass before our minds. 
These represent horses which differ in color, size, atti- 
tudes, etc., and yet with each image comes the distinct 
feeling of its inadequacy as a representative of the 
class. Rather we feel that it takes them all, and more 
than we have time for, to represent the meaning of the 



I04 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

word horse. In this we find that in a vague and in- 
definite way we are attending to the elements of simi- 
larity in our images, and are ignoring the qualities that 
do not count for anything in the make-up of the sig- 
nificance of horse. 

Since this tendency is so strong in us all, the best we 
can do is to aid the learner in directing his attention to 
the marks of similarity in his mental images, and not to 
whatever peculiarities may happen to strike his fancy. 
In this the teacher will gain a great advantage by using 
what may be called the exact concepts, — those made up 
of attributes fully and distinctly known, such as triangle, 
square, etc. We know just the elements that enter into 
the notion, and hence into the definition, of square and 
of triangle. We can definitely enumerate all these for 
the learner and direct his attention away from size, posi- 
tion, etc., which have nothing whatever to do with the 
formation of the real meaning of the word. By using 
these exact mathematical concepts as the means of 
showing him what he should strive after in thinking the 
concept, we prepare him for dealing with the larger 
class of inexact concepts, — those made up of attributes 
that are not fully and distinctly known, but that can be 
only vaguely approximated, such as house, book, pleas- 
ure, etc. 

Definition and Description Distinguished. 

The distinction between exact and inexact concepts 
affords an opportunity to emphasize the difference be- 
tween logical definition and mere description. Both of 



THE NOTION, OR CONCEPT. 10$ 

these are valuable, but they should not be confused. A 
definition notes all the essential marks of a thing, and 
only these ; it is designed to settle a thing in its com- 
pass and extent. Thus we can clearly define the exact 
concepts because we know exactly what the qualities 
are that enter into their formation ; as, a square is a 
plane figure bounded by four equal sides and having 
four right angles. But when we endeavor to give verbal 
expression to the inexact concepts, such as house, pin, 
jar, etc., we find it impossible to distinguish between the 
essential and the non-essential qualities ; hence complete 
definitions cannot be given. For all such, then, the 
best we can do is to describe them as accurately as pos- 
sible. A description is not limited to an enumeration 
of only the essential marks of a thing, but it may take 
larger liberties and emphasize oddities. It '' enters into 
striking particulars with a view to interest or impress by 
graphic effect." It is well for teachers to keep this dis- 
tinction clearly in mind, and not endeavor to secure 
exact definition where only a description is possible; 
neither should they generally be content with an approx- 
imate description where the exactness of definition is 
attainable. 

Content and Extent of Notions. 

Clearness of great pedagogical value will be added to 
this discussion if we distinguish between the content 
and the extent of our class notions, or general concepts. 
It is evident that when I use the word quadrilateral I 
may think either of the appropriate four-sided geomet- 



I06 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

rical figures, which I can picture in great number and 
variety, or of the quality of four-sidedness which belongs 
to certain geometrical figures. In the first case my 
mind is directed to the hidividual tilings which possess 
the qualities entitling them to be called quadrilaterals ; 
in the other case my mind is directed to the qualities 
which the word quadrilateral really means, and, on ac- 
count of the possession of which, any figure is called a 
quadrilateral. In the first case my mind dwells upon 
the extent of the class term quadrilateral ; in the second 
case, upon the content of the class term. Since a con- 
cept or general notion is the mental content which an- 
swers to a class of things, and a class term is the word 
which symbolizes both the class of things and the cor- 
responding concept, we may speak without distinction 
of the content and extent of a class term or of a con- 
cept; accordingly. 

The content of a class term is the sum of attributes 
which things must possess in order that they may be 
designated by the word in question. 

The extent of a class term is the entire set of indi- 
vidual things to which the word is applied. The reason 
why a class term is applicable to some individuals and 
not to others is because the former ones each possess 
the attributes which constitute the content of the class 
term or word, and the latter ones do not. 

The word square signifies (in extent) this, that, and 
the other plane figure possessing four equal sides and 
four right angles. It signifies (in content) the following 
attributes : plane figure, fourness of sides and angles, 
equality of sides and rightness of angles. 



THE NOTION, OR CONCEPT. lO/ 

When the meaning of any word is being developed it 
is important for the teacher to know whether the child 
is thinking of its content or of its extent. In order to 
get the real significance of a word he must, of course, 
dwell upon the content ; but in order to be able to apply 
it intelligently, he must be able to think of the individuals 
to which it rightly belongs, — its extent. Errors may 
arise from the child's getting his notions either too com- 
prehensive or not comprehensive enough in content, as 
well as either too wide or too narrow in extent. If a 
child who has seen only red roses hears the word, rose, 
applied to them until he associates the word with 
these red objects, he will get a notion that is too com- 
prehensive in content, because it includes the element 
redness, and this element of a particular color does not 
belong to roses. If a child has learned to associate the 
word, square, with a four-sided figure that has right 
angles, it is evident that this notion of square is lacking 
in content, because it fails to embrace the necessary 
element of equality of sides. Because of this omission, 
the word, square, would be used by him in reference to 
all rectangles, and would, therefore, lead to numerous 
errors. If a child comprehends all men in the word, 
papa, it is evident that his attention is directed to the 
extent of the word, and his notion of papa is too wide in 
extent. If he denies to certain men the title, man, de- 
claring, " You not man ; papa man," it is clear that his 
notion of man is too narrow in extent. The remedy for 
all these errors is the same, — reference to appropriate 
realities, careful analysis of these realities, and growing 
exactness in the definition of our terms. 



:o8 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



Variation of Content and Extent of Notions. 

It will be seen by examining the above illustrations 
that, if a learner comprehends in his notion too many 
elements, the extent of that word will be too narrow ; 
that is, if he thinks that the word means more elements 
than it really does mean, he will not apply the word to 
as many things as are properly embraced in its exten- 
sion. This observation has led many writers to declare 
that the greater the content of any word, the smaller the 
extent ; and the smaller the content, the greater the 
extent. Or, more briefly, the content and extent of 
a notion vary inversely. This statement deserves care- 
ful examination. 

The treatment can be most clearly given if we speak 
of the meaning of a word (which corresponds to the 
content of a notion), and the application of a word 
(which corresponds to the extent of a notion). Take the 
word, island : if this signifies to a child a grass-covered 
portion of ground surrounded by water, he attributes to 
the word more meaning than he should, and therefore 
he does not apply it to as many things as he should. 
He would not apply it to sandy or stony islands because 
of the absence of grass. Now, if upon further study he 
should drop the idea of grass covering, and thus narrow 
the meaning, he would widen the application to its 
legitimate sphere. It is because the child's notion is 
erroneous in content that it is at first too narrow in 
extent ; by making it accord in content with the true 
meaning of the word, he widens its extent to the proper 



THE NOTION, OR CONCEPT. IO9 

application of the word. In all this the meaning of the 
word remains unaltered, though, through the progress 
of his learning, he gradually comes to think differently 
about it. The reader can further illustrate this distinc- 
tion if he will take words, and, by admitting too few or 
too many elements into their meaning, try their applica- 
tion ; then he can correct the mistaken content and note 
the change in extent or application. 

Next let us take the word, post, with a changing his- 
tory which has been accumulating meanings. First, the 
word meant a piece of timber, or other solid substance, 
placed firmly in an upright position. Next, and without 
losing any of the first meaning, it came to mean the 
place at which a body of troops is permanently located. 
Another change, and it came to mean (without losing 
any of its former significance) a messenger who goes 
from station to station ; as, one who regularly carries 
letters from one place to another. Retaining all of these 
meanings, the next development causes it to embrace 
the carriage by which mail is transported. Now, it 
seems clear that if the child learns the first of these 
meanings, which taken alone is correct, the word, post, 
will have for him a given content and extent ; if he adds 
the other meanings in succession, not needing to alter 
what was learned before, he will enrich the content of 
his notion of post and at the same time widen its extent. 
This is true because with each new element of meaning 
there was no interference with former meanings, but 
there was a new application in an added field. 

The importance that attaches to this distinction is 
seen when we remember that the enrichment of a child's 



I lO SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

vocabulary is just as essential to his intellectual growth 
as the enlargement of it. We enrich a vocabulary when 
we give added significance to old words ; we enlarge a 
vocabulary when we add new words to it. The deepen- 
ing of thought which accompanies enrichment is even 
more vital to a child's educational well-being than the 
broadening which accompanies enlargement, for the latter 
may be associated with superficiality. Teachers need 
to avoid the mistake of thinking that whenever they 
thus enrich a child's notion and render it more exact and 
complete, they necessarily narrow its application. This 
is true only when the enrichment is accomplished by 
deserting former errors. 

This relation of content to extent should also be noted 
in reference to a series of related words. In the series, 
living thing, animal, quadruped, dog, each member em- 
braces more elements of meaning than the one before it, 
while each member refers to fewer things than the one 
before it. Thus it is clear that in a series of related 
concepts, if we enlarge the content down the series, we 
narrow the extent ; and, if we narrow the content, we 
enlarge the extent. But it should be noted that this 
refers to no change whatever in any of the concepts ; it 
merely compares broader and narrower concepts with 
each other. 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. I H 



CHAPTER XL 
DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 

, Based upon the Truths of the Concept. 

There are four distinct methods of teaching, which 
can be understood only in the hght of a knowledge of 
the nature and the relation of individual concepts and 
general concepts. They are the analytic method, syn- 
thetic method, inductive method, and deductive method. 
It is the aim of this chapter to show what these different 
methods mean, how they are related to each other, and 
in what order the contrasted ones should be employed. 

The analytic method of teaching is the method in 
which we set out with individuals or wholes, and proceed 
to a consideration of the parts of which they are com- 
posed. Starting with a flower and proceeding to the 
study of its parts — calyx, corolla, stamens, pistil, etc. — 
is an example of analytic teaching. As examples of 
the analytic method of procedure in other studies may 
be mentioned : taking a sentence in grammar and pro- 
ceeding from that to a consideration of its parts, — sub- 
ject, copula, predicate, modifiers, etc. ; taking a problem 
in arithmetic and proceeding to its solution by the 
method of independent analysis ; taking a state or 
country in geography and proceeding to learn the several 
parts (the names, locations, and characteristics of the 
particular rivers, mountains, towns, etc.) of which it is 
composed. In an analytic method of teaching we have 



112 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

given us the individuals or wholes, which are simply the 
parts in their proper relations to each other, and we pro- 
ceed to consider each of these parts as if it were then a 
separate thing. 

The synthetic method of teaching is the method in 
which we set out with the dissociated parts of things 
and proceed to bring these into proper relation to each 
other, so as to construct as a final product the individual. 
Having a pile of dissociated bones, studying the function 
of each, and then bringing them into such relation with 
one another as to produce finally the human skeleton, is 
an example of a synthetic method of teaching. Taking 
isolated words and building possible sentences with them 
is a synthetic procedure. Other examples are : teaching 
letters and then from these constructing certain words ; 
learning about a particular river, its surroundings, the 
towns upon its banks, and further particular items, until 
we have built up a picture of some particular state. 

It should be noted that, in the analytic method, the 
parts are given in their relation to each other, and, hence, 
the relations are clearly present to be discovered ; the 
functions of the several parts as they affect one another 
are thus made manifest. In the synthetic method the 
parts are given out of their proper relation to each other, 
and it is assumed that they can be studied in such 
isolation, and that their several relations can be dis- 
covered in the process of bringing them together to 
construct the unit, or individual thing. It should also be 
noted that tJiese two metJiods have to do only zvith the mc7i- 
tal movement between single things and their parts ; the 
idea of classification does not enter into either of them. 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. II3 

The inductive method of teaching is the method in 
which we set out with individual things, and by a com- 
parative study of several individuals — noting hkenesses 
and differences — develop general notions or generaliza- 
tions ; or, we begin with generalizations of a given order 
and by their comparative study we arrive at still wider 
generalizations. Taking several observable portions of 
land and, from a comparative study of these, deriving 
the notion and the definition of island, is an inductive 
procedure. Solving several problems in arithmetic by 
independent analysis, and then, by comparison of their 
processes, formulating a rule for the solution of such 
problems, is an inductive process. Generalizing defini- 
tions, rules, laws, and principles, from a comparative 
study of facts, is inductive. The very essence of induc- 
tion is contpariso7i of members of a class with a view to 
discovering similar elements. 

The deductive method of teaching is the method in 
which we set out with generalizations (definitions, rules, 
laws, or principles) and proceed to their application in 
individual cases. As examples of the deductive method 
we may mention : committing rules in arithmetic and 
then applying them to the solution of problems ; study- 
ing the definitions of geography from a book and then 
proceeding to find them illustrated in the land and water 
forms about the school ; reading the generalizations 
about the human body, which are contained in the 
ordinary works on physiology, and then proceeding to 
examine our own bodies in order to verify them ; studying 
botany by first reading the book statements about 
plants, and following this by an examination of specimens 



114 



SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



of the plants previously described ; starting with the 
axioms of mathematics and proceeding by a demonstra- 
tive process to principles, rules, and the solution of 
problems. 

A careful consideration of the above definitions and 
the examples cited will enable the learner to understand 
that the terms, induction and dednction, apply only to those 
mental movements which involve a passage from general- 
izations, never to the mental movements between indi- 
vidual things and their several parts. 

The Four Methods Distinguished. 

Much theoretical confusion and not a little practical 
blundering in pedagogy results from the failure to dis- 
criminate clearly between these two sets of related 
methods of teaching. Analytic teaching is thought to 
be identical with deductive teaching ; and synthetic 
teaching with inductive teaching. 

The accompanying diagram will add clearness to this 
discussion and be made the basis of much that follows : — 



CLASSES, OR GENERALIZATIONS. 
(General Notions.) 



A 



V 



INDIVIDUALS, OR SINGLE THINGS. 

(Individual Notions.) 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 



115 



INDIVIDUALS. OR SINGLE THINGS. 
(Individual Notions.) 



A 



V 



PARTS, OF WHICH THE INDIVIDUALS ARE COMPOSED. 

A Study of the diagram will reveal the fact that only 
truth which has reference to classes of things can be 
treated by induction or deduction ; and only truth which 
has reference to single things and their parts can be 
mastered by an analytic or a synthetic proces^. Since 
individuals need to be comprehended (in so far as this is 
possible in their individual character) before they can be 
compared for the purpose of making inductive general- 
izations, it will be seen that/in an inductive process, the 
process of analysis may be involved. It is further evi- 
dent that in an inductive process there is a certain 
bringing together of elements, which looks much like 
an act of synthesis. These elements, which have been 
found to be the similar elements in several individuals, 
are taken in their collective capacity as the ground of 
the generalization ; indeed, the generalization is simply a 
truth which embraces in its content these several ele- 
ments. But, though this inductive process looks much 



no SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

like a synthetic act, there are numerous synthetic acts 
which do not partake in the least of the vital parts of 
an inductive process, which vital parts are comparison of 
several individuals^ and generalization of a truth which 
is the outgrowth of such comparison. 

Illustration : We may give to a child a column of 
dissociated words and have him put them into suitable 
relations with one another and thus synthetically con- 
struct a given sentence. Other columns of words may 
be given and from these other individual sentences may 
be synthetically formed. But in every instance the 
product is a grammatical unit, built up of just the parts 
which the child put into it, no more and no less. To 
drop one of the pieces (words) or to add one is to pro- 
duce a different resulting unit. When one of these units 
(sentences) is being built out of the words which are to 
compose it, all the others are disregarded. In thus 
creating units out of parts, synthesis has accomplished all 
of which it is capable. 

These sentences may be taken and, by the help of the 
teacher, who knows just where he wishes to lead the 
child in his thinking, the child may discover certain 
marks of similarity which will enable him to put the 
sentences into groups, — those which express truth, those 
which ask questions, etc. Now, with his attention di- 
rected to these similarities, and away from all the non- 
essential differences, he may be given the words, declara- 
tive, interrogative, etc., and then be led to define them ; 
as, a declarative sentence is one which expresses a 
thought, or, a declarative sentence is one which affirms 
or denies. In this work, which is inductive, it should be 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 11/ 

specially noted that the product secured (the definition) 
is not limited in its application to the cases we have 
examined, but that it comprehends all cases that have 
the required marks, wherever and whenever they may be 
found. It is not in any true sense, as each sentence 
above is, made up of the elements that were considered 
together in its production. If in the work above we had 
taken different words, we should have produced different 
sentences ; but in this study any other appropriate sen- 
tences would do just as well as the ones that were used, 
and we could secure through their use just the results 
(the definitions) given above. The result of the syn- 
thetic process is a distinct imageable unit ; the result of 
the inductive process is a generalization. By the syn- 
thetic process we can construct individual notions ; by 
the inductive process we develop general notions. Just 
so the deductive method differs from the analytic method. 
In deduction we have a generalization to start with, and 
our process consists in applying this generalization to 
the mastery of new individual instances ; in analysis we 
have a given unit to start with, and our process consists 
in separating it into its several constituent parts and 
viewing each of these parts as if it were a distinct 
individual. 

Thus far in the discussion reference has been made 
only to individual and general notions. For pedagogy it 
is necessary that we extend this application into a wider 
domain and embrace judgments as well. Most of our 
teaching is concerned with truth, and truth appears in 
the form of the judgment and is expressed by the 
sentence. 



Il8 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

In examining any lot of declarative sentences (propo- 
sitions) — such as 

1. Horses are quadrupeds. 

2. Pennsylvania is a very wealthy state. 

3. A triangle is a plane figure having three sides and 
three angles. 

4. '' Dot " is a very beautiful cow. 

5. Virtue is its own reward. 

6. That act of Mr. A. was a splendid mark of man- 
liness — 

we find that their subjects name notions that are either 
individual or general. If the subject names a distinct 
imageable thing, it is then a logically singular term ; if 
it names a class, and therefore a non-imageable quantity, 
it is a general term. Reference to the sentences above 
will reveal the fact that the subjects of 2, 4, and 6 are 
logically singular (individual terms), while the subjects 
of I, 3, and 5 are logically universal (general terms). 
Now since classes cannot be observed, any element 
expressed by a general term is a non-observable element. 
On the other hand, since single things (individuals) are 
observable quantities, the elements expressed by singu- 
lar terms are observable elements. The truth of the 
propositions 2, 4, and 6 may be verified by observation ; 
the truths of the propositions i, 3, and 5 cannot be so 
verified. We may observe this horse and thus learn that 
it is a quadruped. (Of course this implies that we come 
to the observation with a knowledge of the notion quad- 
ruped.) But it requires a process of generalization to 
arrive at the truth. Horses are quadrupeds. We may 
observe a person performing a virtuous act and note the 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. I 1 9 

reward which attends it in the quiet and satisfaction of his 
own consciousness, as this satisfaction is revealed in his 
acts ; but an act of generalization from just such data is 
necessary in order to arrive at the truth, Virtue is its own 
reward. No induction is possible as a means of establish- 
ing the truth of a proposition whose subject is a logically 
singular term. In this discussion no reference is made 
to the predicates of the propositions ; all the attention 
is directed to the subjects. This is because the predi- 
cate is" always assumed to be known, and the learning 
has direct reference, therefore, to the part named by the 
subject term. The only form of judgment that clearly 
adds to our fund of knowledge is the synthetic judg- 
ment ; that is, one whose predicate is wider in meaning 
than the subject. In all such judgments the predicates 
are supposed to be known, and the act of judgment con- 
sists in subsuming (including) the new subject under the 
old predicate ; that is, in discovering their thought re- 
lation. If any desired predicate is not known, we 
make it the subject of another proposition in the act of 
making it known ; then it is in readiness to be used as a 
predicate for the sentence which is engaging our thought. 
To sum up, therefore, we may say that any judgment 
whose subject is logically siiigidar may be viezved in the 
same light as an individual notion; and any judgment 
whose subject is logically tmiversal may be viezved in the 
satne light as a general notion. What has been said, 
therefore, about the methods applicable to the presenta- 
tion of individual notions and general notions respectively, 
may be taken to apply with equal force to judgments 
or propositions whose subjects are logically singular and 



120 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

to those whose subjects are logically universal. If the 
subject is logically singular, the truth of the proposition 
must be determined by observation or by some other 
form of independent analysis. The subject must be 
analyzed, at least sufficiently to enable the learner to sub- 
sume it under the predicate at hand. No comparative 
study of similar individuals will assist in this process ; 
no generalization is involved in it ; it does not reach the 
stage of an inductive act in any sense whatever. On 
the other hand, if the subject of a proposition is logically 
universal, the truth of that proposition can be estab- 
lished only through reference to the individuals which 
are grouped under it. When these individuals have 
been comparatively studied (after each has itself been 
sufficiently analyzed for the purpose), we are then in a 
condition to make our inductive generalization. The 
number of individual instances needing examination is 
not now in question. It may require few or many. In 
mathematics it is often sufficient to use only one 
problem as a means of establishing the generalization 
stated in a rule, because the conditions are so exact and 
the inference so plain ; in physics or biology it may be 
necessary to employ many examples, because of the pos- 
sible varieties of circumstances that may be thought to 
be interferences unless they are systematically elimi- 
nated, not by being silently rejected, but by being 
tested. 

A comparative illustration will help to add clearness 
to the thought of sameness in the pedagogical treat- 
ment of notions and judgments. 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 121 

MENTAL MOVEMENTS. ILLUSTRATED IN THE REALM 

OF NOTIONS. 

(Higher class) 

Animal 

(Lower class) 
Doff Horse 

(Individuals) 
Rover, Sport, Jack, Harry, Frank, Bill, 

or or or or 



(Parts) His head, skin, color, (Parts) His head, skin, color, 

body, bones, size, tail, muscles, body, bones, size, tail, muscles, 

form, legs, etc. form, legs, etc. 

MENTAL MOVEMENTS, ILLUSTRATED IN THE REALM OF 

JUDGMENTS. 

(Higher class) 

Cloven-hoofed animals 

are herbivorous. 

(Lower class) 
The sheep is The cow is 

herbivorous. herbivorous. 

(Individuals) 
" Dot" eats grass (is herbivorous). 
" Beauty " eats grass (is herbivorous). 
" Nellie " eats grass (is herbivorous). 

In Studying this illustration we should remember that 
there are no fully observable elements above individuals. 
We cannot make observation of dog, horse, or animal ; 
we may observe Rover, Sport, Harry, and the others, or 
we may observe the parts of any of these. We cannot 
observe that cloven-hoofed animals are herbivorous, nor 
even that sheep or cows are herbivorous ; we may ob- 
serve the doings of Dot, Beauty, Nellie, and others, and 
thus establish the truth of the judgments : — Dot, Beauty, 
and Nellie are herbivorous. If one were to make the 
assertion, Cloven-hoofed animals are herbivorous, it 



122 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

might be met by the inquiry, ''How is this known ? " It 
would not suffice to refer to the next lower generaliza- 
tion, and, having asserted that sheep are herbivorous 
and cows are herbivorous, to rest there. Again would 
come the inquiry, '' How do you know it ? " This would 
require us to fall back one step further to the proposi- 
tion with a logically singular subject, and here we might 
rest, for we are now on a basis of solid fact of observa- 
tion. We can make sufficient analytical examination of 
Dot, Beauty, Nellie, etc., to note that each of them does 
eat grass. The only question now involved is, whether 
or not we have examined with correctness a sufficient 
number of individual cases to warrant the successive 
generalizations that we make. 

But suppose such a distinction as that made in refer- 
ence to these four methods is clear, what is it all worth ? 
Much in several ways. In the first place, it will enable 
us to avoid the confusion of thought which can state the 
above distinctions in definitions and forthwith confuse 
them in the illustrations. In the second place, it will 
prevent the error of thinking that because it is correct 
to proceed in nature study from the facts of observation 
to the laws and causes, which are truths above obser- 
vation, it is therefore correct to proceed in geography 
from the school grounds, which may be observed, to the 
township, county, state, country, etc., which are beyond 
observation. The first of these is a clear case of induc- 
tion, leading from individuals which may be observed, to 
truths which are reached by generalization ; the second 
is an equally clear case of synthesis, leading only to a 
larger, but distant, unit. Such imperfect thinking by 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 1 23 

false analogies seems destined to lead to more confirmed 
errors in practice than are likely to befall one who seems 
scarcely to think at all upon matters of pedagogy, but 
who merely acts in the schoolroom as he was acted upon. 
In the next place, this distinction will aid teachers in 
determining the nature of the results that may wisely be 
reached by leading pupils in thought through a long and 
laborious process of discovery, and, on the other hand, 
those which should be told without delay. It will save 
teachers the heartache, occasioned by a fruitless endeavor 
to make the committing of the multiplication table or a 
stanza of poetry submit to the same orderly procedure 
that they find appropriate in the development of a rule 
in arithmetic or a law in physics. In short, it will en- 
able teachers to see clearly that the mental steps in- 
volved in the mastery of a body of truth which is to be 
comprehended are necessarily very different from the 
processes undergone in the development of skill, or 
from those required in impressing any item upon the 
memory. 

We frequently hear stated in support of a synthetic 
procedure that it is in accord with the so-called '' prin- 
ciple " — proceed from the known to the unknown. This 
educational maxim, however, has no significance except 
where the known can be discovered, at least in part, in 
that which is as yet unknown ; and this familiar element 
then serves as the means of interpreting the unfamiliar. 
But such conditions do not exist where part is put with 
part synthetically until a whole, or unit, is formed. They 
are present, however, in all cases where a generalization 
has been inductively developed and is then applied to 



124 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

new individual instances. A knowledge of the names, 
locations, and characteristics of the rivers, mountains, 
cities, etc., of Pennsylvania will be of no service what- 
ever in enabling a learner to interpret these same facts 
concerning the rivers, mountains, and cities of New 
York or other surrounding states. And yet, this is 
literally a case of proceeding from what is known to 
what is as yet unknown. Indeed, it is clear that all 
learning is such a process — passing from the narrow 
bounds of the known of to-day into the wider unknown 
which is to become in part known by next week or next 
year. But this is a simple truism. Certainly when put 
into the form of an educational maxim, it is intended 
to convey some real meaning. On the other hand, a 
knowledge of the general concepts, river, mountain, city, 
etc., will enable me to understand when I study about 
the rivers, mountains, or cities located in any portion of 
the earth, and I can understand what I study about dis- 
tant ones just as well as I can what I study about the 
ones in an adjoining state. So also will a knowledge of 
the way to multiply a fraction by a fraction be of great 
service in aiding me to understand how to divide a frac- 
tion by a fraction, not because the advance here made is 
a synthetic one, but because the old truth reappears as 
an element in the new, and thus enables me the better 
to interpret the new. 

Order of Use of Contrasted Methods. 

Since the great body of our study consists in the mas- 
tery of that which nature furnishes to the student ; and 
since nature furnishes to us only individuals, — never 



Distinctions of method. 125 

classes, nor dissociated parts, excepting in the midst of 
decay, — it would seem natural to begin our study with 
individuals. That this is also the dictate of reason we 
have on no less authority than that of Sir William 
Hamilton, who says, in his '' Lectures on Metaphysics " : 
" The first procedure of the mind in the elaboration of 
its knowledge is always analytical. It descends from 
the whole to its parts, from the vague to the definite." 
In support of this position it might further be added, that 
any generalization from particular data is comprehensible 
only in the light of the data from which it is developed. 
As giving satisfaction to still other minds, it may be men- 
tioned that dissociated parts, which are parts out of 
relation to one another, are either totally incomprehen- 
sible or, at least, very difficult of comprehension. It 
would seem to be the dictate of wisdom, therefore, to 
begin our instruction with that which human reason re- 
quires and the natural universe provides. Systems of 
classification, as well as dissociated fragments, are arti- 
ficial human products. The point of departure in our 
teaching, therefore, should be neither dissociated parts 
to be synthetically grouped into imits, nor generaliza- 
tions in the form of laws, principles, or definitions to be 
deductively applied. Of course this does not refer to 
the point of departure in any subject for students of an 
advanced grade, but to the true point of departure for 
those beginning the study of a subject. 

All our argument, then, seems to point to the conclu- 
sion that learning should begin with individuals and 
should return to individuals. Two courses are therefore 
open to the learner, and his choice must be determined 



126 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

by the immediate end which he has in view. If, in his 
study, his consideration is given to an individual thing 
without any reference to its classification (or considera- 
tion in the light of a general law), the entire procedure 
for him is an analytic-synthetic one ; if, on the other 
hand, he is using this individual in connection with 
others, or as a type of its kind, for the purpose of gen- 
eralization, the entire procedure for him is an inductive- 
deductive one. 

This is intended to emphasize the thought that, though 
the individual or whole is the correct point of departure 
in teaching, the learner should not stop with having 
performed merely the act of analysis, since this will 
leave him with a resultant product of dissociated frag- 
ments having neither coherency nor usefulness ; this 
analytic act should be followed by the reconstructive act 
of synthesis. Having started with a whole or unit of 
apprehension^ the pupil will return by an analytic- 
synthetic process to this same unit, which is now a unit 
of compreJiension. If this study of individuals is a com- 
parative one whereby he reaches generalizations, it is 
again not enough for him to perform merely the process 
of induction and rest with that ; such a course will leave 
him in the realm of vague generalizations. In order 
that these generalizations may be stripped of their 
vagueness and become practically useful, the learner 
must continue his thought and must make deductive 
application of them in new and varied individual in- 
stances. This alone can save him from a mere pretense 
of wisdom, in which much dealing is done in glittering 
generalities, and give to him the stability and security 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 



127 



of definite fact. The relation of these several operations 
to each other may be graphically indicated by the fol- 
lowing diagram : — 



The generalization 

which results from 

such comparison. 




Parts 

which compose the 

whole. 



These four operations embrace what are regarded by 
the advocates of Herbart's pedagogy as the necessary 
stages of all right method; that is, "(i) the appercep- 
tion or assimilation of individual notions ; (2) the trans- 
ition from individual to general notions, whether the 
latter appear as definitions, rules, principles, or moral 
maxims ; and (3) the application of theae general truths 
to new concrete facts — the return from general notions 
to new individuals," 



128 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

The process of analysis-synthesis corresponds to the 
apperception or assimilation of individual notions ; in- 
duction corresponds to the transition from individual to 
general notions ; and deduction corresponds to the ap- 
plication of the general notions to new individuals. 

Though the above order is the one to be observed 
wherever the conditions exist that will make the appli- 
cation of these several methods possible, it is not to be 
understood that they are applicable in all subjects. 
Induction and deduction have no meaning whatever ex- 
cepting in connection with a body of truth (a body of 
generalizations) which is to be comprehended. The 
mere committing to memory of facts, or the acquire- 
ment of skill in an art, are cases where induction and 
deduction have no significance. There must be general 
notions to develop and to employ, in order to make 
occasion for the use of induction and deduction. Com- 
mitting to memory a set of definite facts, as a poem, 
the multiplication table, or the facts of history, is simply 
impressing upon a learner's being a fund of individuals. 
Of course these should when possible be comprehended, 
but the endeavor to comprehend is a different learning 
act from that of committing. The acquirement of skill 
in an art, such as writing, drawing, singing, or gymnas- 
tics, affords no opportunity for the employment of 
induction and deduction. These arts are primarily 
matters of muscle control, and not mental operations 
upon truth. 

The claim is sometimes made that, though the general 
must be preceded by the particular, because there is no 
other way in which the general can be understood, yet 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 1 29 

it makes no real difference whether one's actual teach- 
ing course is inductive or deductive. To this it may be 
replied that, though interest may at times be best 
awakened by hurling at a pupil some bold generaliza- 
tion, yet this is not a safe general procedure and can be 
advocated only as a temporary device. While it may 
thus be employed as an expedient for arousing an other- 
wise sluggish mind, it should be remembered that it is 
contrary to the rule of rational procedure with minds 
that are active. A surgeon's knife may with wisdom 
be applied to a diseased part, but no one would seriously 
consider making this a just ground for advocating its 
universal use upon healthy organs. Interest is often 
best aroused by startling a mind with the unexpected ; 
but rational, systematic thinking is never furthered by 
such disorders. In all of this it is not forgotten that 
with advanced pupils a study may wisely begin with 
generalizations, but they should always be generaliza- 
tions whose individual elements have been employed in 
earlier learning, or else they are generalizations thrown 
out to invite effort at mastery from persons equipped by 
maturity and information to make such an effort with, at 
least, a probability of success. 

It signifies nothing that many good text-books open 
their various sections by stating either definitions or 
laws. The text-book is not necessarily meant to indi- 
cate by its arrangement the method that intelligent 
teachers should employ in its use. More frequently it is 
only a record of conclusions in the form of generaliza- 
tions, with an additional part composed of examples to 
be used in drilling pupils in the employment of these 



130 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

generalizations. The wisdom of this arrangement for 
most text-books is seen in the fact that, if they were 
made inductive so as to indicate the steps to be taken 
in teaching the truths recorded in them, they would 
become so bulky as to be both unwieldly and unmarket- 
able. 

The objection is sometimes urged that the term, ''unit 
of study," is so vague or meaningless that its use only 
beclouds any discussion in pedagogy. It is urged that 
anything may be regarded as a unit ; that it all depends 
upon the view point ; that what is a unit to the mind of 
a child may be but a part to the teacher's mind. And 
so we hear that, if we are considering a grove, the indi- 
vidual trees are but parts ; if we are studying a tree, 
the several leaves upon it are parts ; if we consider the 
earth with reference to its geography, it is a whole ; if 
we consider it with reference to the solar system, it is 
a part ; if we desire to make it so, we may consider as 
a whole either a river basin, a continental land-slope, or 
a rain belt. The full treatment of this subject will be 
postponed to a later chapter (see page 144). Suffice it 
to say here, that the matter is not to be regarded from 
the child's view point, nor from the teacher's view point, 
nor yet from the point of expediency or arbitrary choice ; 
it is to be determined in the light of the nature and re- 
quirements df the branch of study itself. If the child, 
at a given stage in his mental development, is not able 
to appreciate the unit which the subject offers him for 
consideration, he is not prepared to pursue that branch 
of study, and it would produce but a stunted mental 
condition to force him to it prematurely. Finally, if the 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 



131 



distinctions of method as above made are to have any 
real significance, or any practical worth, the determina- 
tion of the unit of study for each branch, as a means 
of fixing the point of departure, is an absolute necessity. 



CLASSIFICATION OF SUBJECTS. 



Those in which the 
dominant aim is the 
understanding of a 
body of truths (gen- 
eral notions). 



Those in which the 
dominant aim is the 
impressing of a set 
of facts (individual 
notions). 



Those in which the domi- 
natit aiin is the develop- 
ment oi a certain form of 
skill (power of doing). 



TRUTHS. 
Arithmetic. 
Algebra. 
Grammar. 
Geometry. 
Physics. 
Botany. 
Physiology. 
Introductory 

phy. 
Bookkeeping. 
Physical Geography. 
Civil Government. 
Rhetoric. 



Geogra- 



FACTS. 
History. 

Political Geography. 
Spelling. 
Literature. 
The Mechanics of 
Reading. 



Oral Reading. 

Writing. 

Drawing. 

Vocal Music. 

Manual Training. 

Gymnastics. 

Language Lessons. 



Perhaps teachers will not all agree that the subjects 
as placed in the above outline are all rightly placed. 
There is doubtless room for some difference of opinion. 
Yet it is clear that the general plan of classification is 
a reasonable one, and I think it will presently appear 
that it has vital pedagogical significance. The word, 
''fact," employed in the classification may need some 
explanation. This is a word with varied meanings. 



132 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Sometimes it is used, in contrast with theory, to mean 
what is known by evidence of the senses, and not what 
is hypothetical. At other times it is used to denote 
what is true, as opposed to what is untrue. At still 
other times it is used to denote what is particular, in 
contrast to what is general. It is in this last sense that 
it is used in the present discussion. Wherever there is 
an individual item offered for study and to be impressed 
upon the memory, we denominate it a fact, in contrast 
with the generalizations, which can be apprehended only 
through a process of discursive thought, and which are 
denominated truths. 

As a means of settling any differences of opinion 
concerning the placing of particular subjects, it may be 
well to offer the following thoughts : — 

I. Most subjects are so varied and complicated in 
their structure, that they are found to contain parts 
which should be located under each of the general 
heads. But in order to escape such a microscopic analy- 
sis of subjects as would be required if this were under- 
taken, we have placed the subject in the group which 
accords with its predominant character and aim. If a 
subject has as its chief element a body of generalizations, 
as in arithmetic, we place it under "Truths," even 
though it may contain some portions that are pure arts 
to be acquired or simple facts to be impressed. When 
this is so in any subject, the intelligent teacher will 
know it and will plan accordingly for the teaching of 
the exceptional parts. The unintelligent teacher would 
not be helped, even should we complicate the scheme 
by cutting subjects into minute sections. No directions 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD, I 33 

in teaching can take the place of a knowledge of the 
subjects to be taught, or of a mastery of the general 
philosophy which underlies their teaching. 

2. A determination of the dominant purpose to be 
served by any subject of study will do much to settle 
both its classification in this scheme, and the method by 
which it should be taught. Do we teach grammar for 
the purpose of giving to pupils a mastery of the struc- 
ture of the language ? If so, that subject has been 
rightly placed, and the appeal in our teaching must be 
made strongly to the child's reason. Or is grammar 
taught primarily for the purpose of enabling us to speak 
and write the language correctly ? If so, then we are 
aiming in it at the formation of correct habits in speech 
and writing, and we should locate grammar under the 
"Arts." Our method of teaching, then, should be 
chiefly one of imitation and practice. 

With these remarks upon the correctness of the out- 
line, we may dismiss that matter, and take the outline 
as a working basis for a further discussion of the prob- 
lems of pedagogy. An attempt has been made through- 
out this chapter to impress upon the learner, that the 
general method thus far set forth is applicable only to 
the subjects which present a body of truths to be compre- 
hended. But there is more to the problem of learning 
than the single item of comprehension. Any subject 
has been properly learned only when three things have 
been accomplished, — (i) whatever truth is presented 
in the subject must be comprehended by the student ; 
(2) he must then fix in mijid what has been compre- 
hended ; and (3) he must prepare to express what has 



134 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

thus been fixed in mind. If the subject is one that 
offers a predominance of truths to be mastered, the 
tendency on the part of many students and teachers is 
to emphasize the first of the above steps and to neglect 
the others. If it is one that presents a set of facts to be 
committed to memory, the tendency is to emphasize the 
second step and to neglect the others. In most subjects 
the third step is neglected entirely in the preparation. 
It seems to receive attention only when the study is one 
that requires in its recitation some especial method of 
delivery, as in declamation or singing. We may express 
what we have learned in very many different ways, by 
verbatim reproduction, by reproducing the thought in 
our language, by using the truth in making something in 
the domain of mechanics, by using the truth for the 
preservation of health or the enlargement of comforts, 
by a changed mode of life, a better appreciation of art, 
or a more refined criticism of men. In some way what 
we learn should be revealing itself, and we should soon 
decide in which of the many possible ways each thing is 
to find expression, and prepare in our study to give it 
freest course along that line. 

Special Processes in Teaching Facts and Art. 

Many plans may be adopted for impressing upon our 
lives the facts and the arts with which the school deals. 
The details of these plans will appear in the discussion 
of the special methods of teaching the various branches, 
but a few general guides may with profit be given here. 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 1 35 



Facts. 



1. When we are aiming to commit to memory any 
items offered us for study, as facts in history, the spell- 
ing of words, or gems in literature, we should strive to 
establish some ratiojial association between what we are 
learning and what we already know. 

2. Frequent thoughtful repetition should be given, 
even though rational bases of association can be dis- 
covered. When the items do not contain any discover- 
able relations, the repetitions will need to be all the more 
frequent, and should always be thoughtful. 

3. When the items have become impressed, so that 
with care they can be reproduced, we should irpi^oduce 
them many times. It is just as necessary to repeat this 
process of reproduction as it is to repeat the act designed 
to make the impression. Items thus impressed should 
generally be reproduced in the way in which they are 
intended to be used. If it is the spelhng of a word, it 
should generally be reproduced in writing, since it is in 
writing and not in speaking that we need to use spelling. 
If it is a poem for recitation, it should frequently be 
reproduced aloud. 

The truth to be especially urged upon teachers in this 
connection is that no amount of reasoning, or arguing, 
or thought leading will avail in the effort to impress 
upon the memory of a person the individual items that 
need to be remembered. We must not consider the end 
reached when we have led a child to comprehend even 
the processes in arithmetic ; there are items in it for 



136 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

the memory, and this must be cared for in a proper 
learning act, just as faithfully as the earlier act of com- 
prehension. When the subject is one made up almost 
entirely of facts, rather than generalized truths, the pro- 
cess of impressing these items becomes the chief process, 
in both the studying and the teaching. The methods of 
analysis and synthesis may be employed in compre- 
hending the statements of complex facts, as in history, 
and this increased clearness will do much toward im- 
pressing the facts upon the learner ; but induction and 
deduction have no significance whatever in this realm. 
Repetition, thoughtful attention, interest, and faithful 
reproduction are the great agencies for impressing facts. 

Arts. 

I . To master the arts, the one thing needful is that 
the learner shall perform the act in which he is expected 
to grow skillful. It is true that he should have in mind 
a definite idea of what is to be done before he undertakes 
the doing, but the possession of this idea will never 
produce the desired skill. That will come only as the 
result of persistent doing, and it will come the more 
surely and swiftly if the doing is performed thoughtfully. 
No amount of reasoning will avail here ; it is not the 
thinking that we wish to influence, but rather the habits 
of bodily activity. Teaching in this domain consists in 
training the muscles and in habituating them to certain 
lines of action. The presence of an idea is to be fol- 
lowed by the untrammeled performance of a muscular 
rnovement. 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. I 3/ 

2. Since there are right ways and wrong ways of 
performing all the arts, and since the determination of 
the right is not a matter that can generally be left to 
the reason of the learner, it becomes imperative that the 
teacher should set before him proper models to be fol- 
lowed. Some of these may be taken from books, but 
most of them must be obtained from the habitual activities 
of the teacher. It is granted that a teacher may develop 
in pupils more skill in a given art than he himself pos- 
sesses, but he must be able to show them how properly 
to set about the performance of the act, and he must 
know enough of the matter to be able to furnish them 
with intelligent criticism as they progress. His efficiency 
as a teacher will also be greatly increased if, by his 
superior skill, he can lead and stimulate them to more 
earnest endeavor. The one danger to be guarded 
against is that of doing for the child what he should 
always do for himself. It is a mistake to regard an 
excellent product (a drawing or a composition), which 
is the outcome of the combined efforts of pupil and 
teacher, as a sign of excellent teaching. 

3. Since the arts are to be acquired through perform- 
ance on the part of the learner, the models should seldom 
be presented to him ready-made. This is uniformly true 
until the learner understands how to proceed, because 
the process, rather than the objective product, is at this 
stage the thing of chief moment. When a task is set 
for the child in writing, drawing, gymnastics, etc., it 
should be set for him in his presence so that he may see 
how the required act is performed. As he advances in 
the art, and comes to know much of the rationale of it. 



138 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

he may be given ready-made lessons to perform, because 
now he knows as well as the teacher how to proceed, 
and the only thing he needs is to proceed in that man- 
ner often enough and carefully enough to establish 
within his muscles the requisite skill in execution. A 
teacher's only service now, aside from the task of stimu- 
lating the learner to action, is that of an intelligent 
critic. 

The art subjects and the fact subjects are alike in 
certain important respects. Generalizations play no 
important part in them, and, therefore, they are not 
learned by a process of discursive thought. Learners 
cannot be led by processes of careful reasoning to master 
their contents. They are made up of individual, though 
not discordant, items which are to be impressed upon 
the life of the learner. Persistent repetition, under 
proper conditions, is the only means of accomplishing 
this end. 

These two sets of subjects differ from each other in 
one vital point. Facts are to be impressed upon the 
mind in their integrity as facts. The arts address them- 
selves primarily to the body, and physical skill is to be 
the outcome of their study. 

Finally, whenever a fact element or an art element 
appears in any branch of learning, no matter whether it 
is the dominant element of the branch or not, it must 
be treated by the learner as a fact or an art. It cannot 
be made to submit, in the learning, to the processes 
applicable to truth in the form of generalizations. 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 1 39 



The Concrete and the Abstract in Teaching. 

(For a more extended discussion of this subject, see W. H. 
Payne's " Contributions to the Science of Education," Chapter IV.) 

One other distinction in method it seems necessary to 
make with fiilhiess, even though it has been referred to 
incidentally many times under other names. One of the 
favorite maxims of educational theorists is the maxim, 
''Proceed from the concrete to the abstract." Many 
times these terms are not defined at all ; at other times 
they are defined negatively ; and usually there is no 
attempt whatever made to explain the mode of the 
proceeding. 

By concrete teaching we mean teaching through the 
use of objects or other illustrations, combined with 
language. 

By abstract teaching we mean teaching through the 
use of language alone ; and in the main this language 
expresses generalizations, and not individual notions. 

Understanding these terms as they are defined above, 
and accepting the direction that concrete work should 
precede abstract work, we still find that there are many 
pertinent questions left unanswered. 

Shall all that is concrete in any branch be given 
before an abstract treatment of the subject is begun.? 
One of the purposes of education is to lift the learner's 
mind above the realm of pure sense — to '' unsense the 
mind" — and to enable him to reach the realm of 
science and of pure truth. To accomplish this, objects 
must be employed as means to the higher end, and not 



140 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

as ends of study in themselves. The abstract portion 
of any division of a subject which contains both may, 
therefore, be taken up just as soon as enough of the con- 
crete has been used to make it intelHgible. Further 
reference to the concrete aspect is unnecessary, unless 
it is found that the abstract is not sufficiently clear, 
when a return to the concrete is the most certain means 
of securing such clearness. It is important, however, 
not to tarry unnecessarily upon concrete instances, but to 
leave them and test the child's concepts again and again, 
until, under varied circumstances, he shows that they are 
correct. There are enough of what we might call mate- 
rial sciences to give to the child all the sense training he 
needs. Whenever a subject has an abstract portion, 
therefore, we should use the concrete only as a means 
of giving substance to the study. Thus the language 
will become intelligible through the use of objects. 
This done, we should aim to make the learner able to 
get truth through the language. We would not have 
children read about such things as they should see, hear, 
touch, etc. ; but we would have them become able to 
extend their knowledge, to supplement their sense activ- 
ity, by the proper use of books. Besides, there are 
many subjects, as mathematics, civic relations, etc., 
which can never be known by him who is confined to 
sense activity. Their truths are abstractions, and can 
be apprehended only in thought. The instrument of 
thinking is language. 

Another important item relates to the mode of transi- 
tion from the purely concrete to the purely abstract in 
teaching. This should be a gradual chattge, as a growth 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. I4I 

or evolution. As soon as a new truth has been pre- 
sented through the use of objects, we should give the 
child an opportunity to try pursuing it further without 
the aid of things. If we find him able to do this, we 
need not return to objects until we wish to open up 
another truth. And, even in the introduction of new 
. topics, the child will in time get beyond the need of 
objects, because his power of employing language is con- 
stantly increasing. Endeavoring to give children only 
concrete work for a period of weeks, and then attempting 
to turn them at once into an exclusive use of abstract 
thought, will be to have them entering upon the realm 
of the abstract as mental cripples, and without support. 
The only difference between childhood and manhood in 
regard to these methods is a difference in the predomi- 
nant element. Both methods should be employed always. 
From childhood, where the concrete predominates, the 
child should gradually grow to where the abstract pre- 
dominates; and this change in his type of thought 
should be no more sudden than the change in his phys- 
ical nature. He should not be able to point to any 
period of time and say, '' That is where I quit concrete 
work and took up the abstract"; but he should be 
brought to discover himself in the employment of a 
predominance of abstract thought much as he discovers 
himself grown to manhood. 

The objection is sometimes raised that in breaking 
down any other habit we will not allow '^tapering off," 
but will recommend as sudden a reversal of conduct as 
possible and a most persistent continuance in the new 
way. Of habits in general this is true, but the transi- 



142 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

tion from the concrete to the abstract, in thinking or 
teaching, is a transition (growth) from one good to a 
higher good dependent upon it ; while in changing habits, 
as generally understood, we are bringing about a change 
from a bad to a good. Abstract methods of teaching 
cannot be successfully employed unless they are based 
upon the results of related concrete work ; good habits 
can be formed without having been preceded by related 
bad ones, and, if the bad ones have existed, it is upon 
their ruiiis that the related good ones must be built up. 

When we consider the language employed in teaching, 
we find that it represents varying degrees of abstract- 
ness, and hence of difficulty for learners. A statement 
may be about a single present thing, and about only one 
sense quality in it ; it may be about a single but absent 
thing ; it may be about one thing, but have reference to 
attributes apprehended only in thought ; it may refer 
to a class of things ; or it may have reference to an 
abstract idea. 

These different types may be illustrated as follows : — 

1. This picture is dark. 

2. That picture was dark. 

3. This picture is beautiful. 

4. Pictures are colored. 

5. Pictures are fascinating. 

6. True beauty is a quality worthy of cultivation. 

It should be remembered that, when a child is able to 
fully understand and appreciate the first of the above 
sentences, he may yet be unable to appreciate the last, 
and that merely because of its abstractness. To prepare 
him for an intelligent use of sentences like the last is no 



DISTINCTIONS OF METHOD. 143 

easy task, but in no other place can the teacher reveal 
more of the quahties of the true artist than in this. It 
will be well for the children if, in this connection, teach- 
ers will all observe carefully the advice given by Jean 
Paul Richter in the Seventh Fragment of his '' Levana " : 
— ** Always employ a language some years in advance of 
the child ; speak to the one-year-old child as though he 
were two, and to him as though he were six." It must 
not be inferred from this that the teacher should use a 
language so many years in advance of the child as to 
render it meaningless to him, but that he should by 
careful study find the plane upon which the child speaks, 
and then strive to lead him to a higher plane by a judi- 
cious advance. Frequent reading and explanation of 
well-selected literature will do much toward the accom- 
plishment of this important end. 



144 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER XII. 
THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 

A TEACHER of Considerable prominence, replying to 
an inquiry, was once heard to remark, " We are not yet 
studying physiology ; we are studying the human body." 
In this odd reply there is contained much of sound wis- 
dom „ Physiology is regarded as the science of the hu- 
man body ; science is an orderly arrangement of facts 
about some definite thing, made for the purpose of allow- 
ing generalizations ; so physiology is here regarded as 
an orderly arrangement of facts about the human body. 
This teacher took the actual human body and made 
observations upon it ; afterivards the facts thus learned 
were put into order, — made into a science. Much current 
practice consists in reading books about plants, animals, 
minerals, the earth, the forces of nature, and man, with- 
out bringing pupils into vital touch with the different 
realities about which these books treat. It is the pur- 
pose of this chapter to show the necessity of an appeal 
to the actual reality of each school subject, for purposes 
of clearness ; to point out what are the realities of the 
several branches ; and to show how this appeal may be 
made. 

In the main, language expresses a body of generaliza- 
tions, and such generalizations are best comprehended 
through the medium of individual " things " that are em- 
braced in them. Any practice, therefore, which causes 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 1 45 

the child to deal with generalizations, and does not first 
familiarize him with the realities about which the gen- 
eralizations are formed, is a practice that challenges his 
efforts without offering him a probability of success, and 
hence thwarts development, leads to confusion, and ends 
in discouragement and defeat. 

Again, in most of the school subjects language is only 
the medium of learning, and not the real subject matter 
about which the student is concerned. Directing the 
attention from the first to books in such subjects is like 
striving to build up the system by going through the 
processes of eating without taking any actual food into 
the body ; or like aiming to become familiar with the 
home life and environment of a people by meeting with 
their representatives abroad. Both must result in fail- 
ure, and can at best only put on the show of an empty 
conceit. 

Finally, this language, like a map but unlike a good 
picture, is but an arbitrary symbol of the real truth for 
which it stands. Unless the student has come into 
touch with the real thing itself that is under study, or 
with such related realities as will enable him by aid of 
his constructive imagination to supply the lack of a vital 
touch with the actual, he will confront the same diffi- 
culty in reading a book that a person would, who should 
undertake to tell the color of an absent stranger's eyes 
by simply hearing his name announced. 

Nothing short of some miraculous prevision will make 
it possible to accomplish either ; and, since our teaching 
plans are not to rest for their success upon miraculous 
intervention, it would seem wise not to rely upon Ian- 



46 



SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



guage as a means of learning before rendering that lan- 
guage significant. 

All this prepares the way for the announcement of 
the following guides : — 

/;/ so far as it is practicable in teachings the actual real- 
ity treated in each branch of study sJioiild be brought, at 
the outset, directly before the mind of the learner. 

The product secured through such direct study should 
be compared witJi the products secured by the other pupils 
tlu'ougJi a similar mctJiod of study. 

It must not be forgotten that ''actual realities" are 
not necessarily material things. In some studies they 
are, while in others the realities are words, actions, or 
even abstract thoughts. That of which the branch 
treats is the actual reality of any school branch. The 
following tabular statement will doubtless serve best to 
bring this before the mind. In connection with the 
statement of the actual reality of each of the school sub- 
jects named, there will be given a statement of the unit 
of the subject. This is a matter that needs to be settled 
before we can determine the point of departure in teach- 
ing each of the subjects, and before we can systemat- 
ically apply the methods discussed in Chapter XI. 



SUBJECT. 


ACTUAL REALITY. 


UNIT OF THE 
SUBJECT. 


Primary Reading. 


Word forms as they appear in sen- 
tences and selections. 


A sentence. 


Advanced Reading. 


Word forms as they appear in sen- 


A selection, or an 




tences and selections, and also the 


extract long 




actual processes of expressive 


enough to reveal 




utterance ; not definitions about 


a state of the au- 




pitch, slides, emphasis, etc. 


thor's mind. 


Spelling. 


Words. (Oral or written.) 


A word. 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 147 



SUBJECT. 



ACTUAL REALITY. 



Language Lessons. 



Grammar. 



Literature. 
Arithmetic. 



Introductory Geog- 
raphy. 



Systematic Geogra- 
phy. 

History. 

Physiology. 
Drawing. 



Writing. 



Vocal Music. 



The child's spoken and written lan- 
guage ; not definitions or material 
things. 

The child's spoken and written lan- 
guage ; not definitions or material 
things. 



Actual productions of authors ; not 
statements about authors and their 
works. 

Numbers and operations with num- 
bers; not figures or material 
things. 

Real things in the material world 
about us. 



The earth (surface) and its present 
inhabitants; not globes, maps, 
pictures, etc. 

Actual deeds of men in life, writings, 
etc.; not book statements about 
them. 

The human body; not book state- 
ments about it. 

Actual productions, and the bodily 
movements required to make 
them. 



UNIT OF THE 
SUBJECT. 



A sentence. (The 
purpose here is 
to form proper 
language habits.) 

A sentence. (The 
purpose here is 
the viastery of a 
thought and its 
correct expres- 
sion.) 

An entire selec- 
tion ; not an ex- 
tract. 

A problem. 



Single things which 
are to serve as 
the basis on 
which definitions 
are to be framed. 

The earth ; not a 
limited portion 
of it. 

An epoch in human 
experience. 



Letter forms, and the bodily move- 
ments required to make them. 



Tones and tone production ; not 
definitions, rules, etc. 



The body. 

Objects. (The 
type forms to be 
learned through 
these because of 
the motive worth 
of objects.) 

Letters. (Pre- 
sented in words 
because of th e 
motive worth of 
words.) 



A song. (To be 
learned first by 
rote so as to show 
the worth of the 
scale.) 



148 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Probably in some minds there will arise a question as 
to the reasonableness of considering the earth as the 
unit of the subject of systematic geography and the body 
as the unit of physiology, but only an epoch in human 
experience as the unit of history. If we are right with 
respect to geography and physiology, why should we 
not regard the entire record of man's doings as the unit 
of history ? 

If in geography we take a continent or any other por- 
tion of the earth as the unit, the one prominent element 
of systematic geography — location — cannot be known 
till we push our inquiry up to the limit of the earth. So 
in physiology, if we take an organ, say the eye, as the 
unit, we cannot know its functions till we consider the 
brain, circulation, etc., up to the limit of the entire body. 
In both of these cases we have at the upper limit (the 
earth in geography, the body in physiology) a complete 
and finished nnit, which is that about which the branch 
treats. In geography there is but one such unit ; in 
physiology all those in the universe are similar to the 
one studied. 

History, on the other hand, presents no such complete 
and finished thing. So far as completeness is concerned, 
history is yet an unmade thing. There is no whole of 
it which is simply undergoing change, as is true with 
the earth and with the human body ; it is simply being 
made and will continue to be made as long as mankind 
lives and acts. For this reason we regard an epoch in 
human experience as the unit of history, even though it 
is understood that one epoch cannot be comprehended 
except in the light of others closely enough related to it 
to have an appreciable effect upon it. 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 1 49 

Primary reading is not so much for the purpose of get- 
ting thought and thus learning new truth, as it is for the 
purpose of furnishing one with the arbitrary instruments 
whereby thought may be acquired in the future. Just 
now the child is supposed to have the thought and also 
the oral means of expressing it ; the aim is to provide 
for him the corresponding written forms of expression, 
and to make him familiar with those forms. The sen- 
tence (not word or letter) is regarded as the unit of the 
subject, because a sentence is the smallest language ele- 
ment that expresses a complete thought. 

The art of expressive utterance of new truths is a 
matter that should follow the above, and it is the thing 
aimed at throughout advanced reading. It will thus be 
seen that primary reading merges imperceptibly into 
advanced reading, and that between them there is no 
sharp line of demarkation. When expressive utterance 
forms one of the chief aims of the work in reading, it is 
necessary that the element of feeling contained in the 
selection to be read, and not merely the thought or truth, 
should be fully considered. Because of this we regard 
the selection, or a sufficiently long extract, as the unit of 
the subject of advanced reading, since the feeling cannot 
be set forth in the isolated sentences of a selection, even 
if the thought can. The prime aim of reading as a 
schoolroom art, even in the most advanced grades, is the 
formation of a habit of proper utterance, not the mastery 
of a body of doctrine. In so far as a body of doctrine 
is dealt with at all, it should be simply as a means of 
furnishing the pupil with that which will render him in- 
dependent of the teacher's help in the wise exercise of 
his acc^uired habit. 



150 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

In spelling, the chief aim is to impress words either 
as forms or as sounds ; spelling has nothing to do with 
word meanings. It is very important that children 
should learn to know the meanings of the words they 
spell, but this is no part of the spelling exercise. It 
simply emphasizes the intimacy of the several school 
subjects, and impresses the value of rational correlation 
in teaching. Whenever letters come up for study as 
they do in spelling, it is well for us to know that there 
are three things to learn about them, — their names, 
sounds, and forms, giving rise respectively to what are 
familiarly called oral, phonic, and written spelling. 
Words have value merely as the representatives of ideas ; 
letters are valueless excepting as the pieces which, when 
properly put together, form words. As language, letters 
have no significance in themselves, but only as the parts 
of words. It is because of this that the word, and not the 
letter, is regarded as the unit of the subject of spelling. 

Language lessons are frequently looked upon as being 
merely elementary grammar with a distinct name. This 
error has doubtless been a fruitful cause of much mis- 
taken practice in the teaching of elementary language. 
The purposes of language lessons and formal grammar 
are as different as are the purposes of any two subjects 
in the curriculum. And this difference of purpose, as 
will be readily seen, gives rise to the necessity of treat- 
ing them in a very different manner. 

Language lessons deal with the actual speech and writ- 
ings of pupils, and not with formal definitions. Such 
definitions announce the net result of a long and severe 
process of classification applied to the language itself. 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. I5I 

Neither do they have to do with material things, except- 
ing as such things may be used as the occasion of the 
thinking which will determine speech and writing. So 
far formal grammar is similar to the language lesson. 
Again, since the smallest language element that repre- 
sents a thought is a sentence, and since no expressions 
divorced from thought constitute a language, we con- 
clude that the sentence is the unit of study for language 
lessons as well as for formal grammar. But here the 
resemblance ends. The purpose of language lessons is 
the formation of correct habits of speech and writing. 
These habits, like all habits, can be formed only by re- 
peatedly performing the appropriate activities, and not 
by studying definitions about them. Language lessons, 
therefore, emphasize the art side of language, and not 
the science side. To be successful they must mold the 
language mechanism so that it will be correct in speech 
and writing without the person's being compelled to 
think why. This can be accomplished to a very marked 
degree through imitation and repetition with needed cor- 
rections, without the child so much as knowing that 
there is any reason why. As he advances and begins 
to learn from his formal grammar the sets of rules of 
syntax, he will be intelligently fortifying himself in line 
with the proper habits which by that time have become 
fixed. Then he will have in his possession the data 
that will enable him to form new habits or to correct 
any improper old ones. But the possession of such data 
will not modify his speech in the least ; that can be 
accomplished only by applying such data, or, failing to 
possess it, by imitating the good example of others. 



152 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

On the other hand, the purpose of formal grammar 
is to give one a mastery of the structure of the language. 
It makes its chief appeal to the thought, not to the 
power of imitation. It presents, primarily, a body of 
doctrine to be comprehended, not a set of rules to be 
applied. It emphasizes the science side of language, 
not the art side. No blind or even intelligent imitation 
is of avail here ; nor will any formal recitation of un- 
comprehended definitions or formulas assist. Every- 
thing that is to be of service must be grasped by the 
understanding of the pupil. Classifications are now to 
be made and generalizations to be formed. These will 
find their appropriate expression in definitions, rules, 
and laws. This clearly necessitates the use of actual 
speech and writing as the reality which grammar treats. 
Book statements in the form of definitions and laws 
about the structure of the language can never supply 
the place of the language itself, which will reveal its 
structure. A great language system is now to be estab- 
lished and understood ; then it is to be committed to 
memory. The application of these generalizations will 
give us our formal composition work, which is to supple- 
ment the theoretical side of grammar. In such work 
we return to the method and the aim of the language 
lesson, only now our practice is guided by an under- 
standing of the structure of the language, whose use is 
to add to mere accuracy the beauty of an elevated style. 

Primarily the language lesson aims at teaching us to 
speak and write the language correctly, while formal 
grammar aims at giving us a comprehensive mastery of 
the rational structure of the language. In the light of 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. I 53 

this comprehension of the structure of the language we 
may, by snficicjit practice and not as the necessary con- 
sequence of our knowledge, fortify and further beautify 
the speech and writing which have become crystallized 
into habits. 

Much of the current practice in the study of litera- 
ture consists in learning the names of literary charac- 
ters, their place of birth and perhaps of death, something 
of their mode of life, the names of their writings, and 
finally a few selections taken from their actual works. 
All of this it is well to know, but most o£ it is not litera- 
ture. The actual writings of men constitute the reality 
of literature. These should be brought to the atten- 
tion of pupils, their lessons revealed, their beauties dis- 
closed, and upon them should be centered a strong 
interest. From this may spring the desire to know the 
men who wrote, and also to know the opinions which 
others have entertained of their writings. Then is the 
time to study the author's biography and also the criti- 
cisms others have written of his works. When the 
study of literature is viewed in this light, our next 
inquiry is for the unit of the study, so that we may de- 
termine the mode of procedure in the study of actual 
writings. Since the truth of an entire production often 
greatly modifies our interpretation of individual sen- 
tences in it ; and, since the prevailing sentiment of a 
selection never can be appreciated by considering its 
isolated parts, we conclude that the unit of study 
in literature is the entire selection, and that in 
teaching it one of the first things to do is to read 
the entire selection, so that the class may apprehend it 



154 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGV. 

as the definite thing to be analyzed and otherwise 
studied, until it is comprehended and its treasures ap- 
propriated. 

In arithmetic many difficulties confront us because 
much arithmetical language has a double application, 
and because in arithmetic we have to do with the most 
difficult abstraction that the primary pupils are com- 
pelled to attack. It signifies but little to many minds 
when they are told that arithmetic is not a science of 
figures nor of material things, but of numbers. Just 
how the number idea differs from figures and from 
things, we shall not discuss in this place. (It will be 
treated in the chapter on " Arithmetic") Here it must 
suffice to say, that when we study arithmetic we are 
not studying primarily the characters i, 2, 3, 4, etc., 
nor are we studying peas, beans, sticks, numeral frames, 
etc. We are studying numbers, and these things are 
the visible means by which we do it. As well might 
one assert that in the process of nourishing the body 
we eat knives, forks, spoons, dishes, etc., as to assert 
that in nourishing the arithmetical faculty we study 
figures and objects. The real thing to be secured 
in arithmetic is the knowledge of numbers and the 
operations performed with them ; and in doing this we 
are compelled to resort to visible aids, in order that we 
may give to the fleeting ideas of the child a kind of 
permanence by establishing a material representative of 
them. The danger of substituting in our thought the 
representative (figure) for the thing represented (num- 
ber) is increased because of the fact that the represen- 
tative is a perceivable thing, and is therefore easier, and 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. I 55 

because of the fact that it takes the same name as the 
thing it represents. We speak of three, four, five, etc., 
meaning the numbers and also meaning the figures. 

What now is the unit of this subject whose reahty is 
number ? When these number ideas are made expHcit 
to the child through the help of objects, so that he 
knows what we mean when we speak of two, three, or 
four, we are prepared to carry on the study of their 
relations, and to consider the operations of which they 
are capable. But when conditions are offered which 
call for the employment of these operations we have 
problems ; hence, we conclude that a problem is the 
unit of arithmetical study. All that precedes the con- 
sideration of the problem — the development of the dif- 
ferent number ideas — is merely so much necessary 
preparation for the study of the science of arithmetic. 
Arithmetical problems are now to be analyzed ; and the 
results secured by such operation are to be taken as the 
data from which rules, etc., are to be inductively de- 
veloped. These rules are in their turn to be deductively 
applied to the solution of new but similar problems. 
Now we are positively to zuo7'k by rule, because we have 
intelligently developed the rule as a means of future 
economy. The only legitimate objection that can be 
made to working by rule is the objection to mechanical 
employment of rules that are not comprehended. 

For the sake of intelligent treatment we have divided 
the subject of geography into two divisions. In the 
first, called introductory geography, we aim at the de- 
velopment of geographical general notions; in the 
second, called systematic geography, we aim at mak- 



156 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

ing the learner familiar with the details of the several 
parts of that great geographical unit, the earth. 

It is evident that the actual realities of which intro- 
ductory geography treats are the real things in the 
material world about us, and not definitions. The 
child should, from the outset, be directed to look about 
him and observe the hills, mountains, valleys, rivers, 
cities, clouds, rain, hail, snow, etc., and not be encour- 
aged to think that geography is a subject whose ma- 
terial is to be found within the compass of a certain 
book. The use of a book becomes an indispensable 
adjunct to the study of things, because no child's sur- 
roundings will furnish him with specimens of all the 
geographical elements about which he must learn ; but 
the verbal descriptions found in a book become intelli- 
gible to the child who has in mind a sufficient amount 
of suitable data to enable his imagination to work with 
security. The point at issue is that the child should be 
immediately impressed with the true idea that geography 
is about the actual things which surround him, and is 
not an exercise in language. He should early form the 
habit of projecting his geographical ideas into real 
space, and not into a book. Geographical terms must 
become the signs of actual things, and not be regarded 
merely as words with verbal definitions attached to 
them. In this view, the verbal definition becomes the 
mere summing up of the results of our inductive study 
of things. It is the end aimed at in introductory 
geography rather than the point of departure in the 
study. If the actual reality in this division of geogra- 
phy is the body of geographical things about us, then a 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 1 5/ 

single real thing becomes the unit of the subject. This 
mountain, this river, this island, or this bay is to form 
the unit of study, and from such study we are to de- 
velop the general notion mountaio, river, island, or bay. 
The manner of treating these several things is an all- 
important matter in this connection. A child may look 
upon any one of the natural divisions of land or water 
and withal not know what such a thing is, when asked, or 
not know another of the same class when he sees it. A 
Pennsylvania educator was at one time passing along 
the bank of a river, and from the car window he called 
his five-year-old son's attention to a beautiful, grass- 
covered island in midstream, at the same time giving 
him the name, island. Presently they approached an- 
other and the little fellow asked what it was. Upon 
being told that it was an island, he immediately re- 
marked, " But, papa, where is the grass.-* " The child's 
attention had been centered upon that which was to 
him the most conspicuous feature in the object before 
him. Just so it is likely to be in every instance, unless 
those who teach direct the learner's thought and obser- 
vation to the features that make the thing in question 
one of a certain class. If it is an island that is the 
object of study, and the aim is to develop a general 
notion and formulate a definition, then the size, shape, 
vegetation, etc., should receive no attention whatever ; 
the whole mental energy should be expended upon those 
elements which constitute it an island ; namely, that it 
is a portion of land entirely surrounded by water. 

In systematic geography the actual reality is the 
earth. The use of globeS; maps, etc., is a real neces- 



158 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

sity, but it must not be forgotten that these things are 
only the instruments that are to aid us in comprehend- 
ing the facts about the real world. Geographical direc- 
tion is not toward the top, bottom, or sides of a map ; 
it is the line or course tipon the em^th in which anything 
is lying or pointing. These courses, which are upon 
the earth, must be represented upon the maps, and the 
usual plan is to represent the north upon a line extend- 
ing toward the top of the page, the south upon a line 
extending toward the bottom of the page, etc., though 
this is not an invariable rule. This view respecting the 
actual reality in systematic geography will doubtless be 
readily conceded ; the position to be taken with refer- 
ence to the unit of study may require more careful 
thought. 

Having developed, in the introductory stage, the 
geographical general concepts — the definitions of geo- 
graphical terms — we are now ready to proceed with a 
detailed consideration of the geographical unit, the 
earth, in the construction of which there is a certain 
definite number of countries, oceans, states, cities, 
rivers, islands, etc., each one having its fixed location, 
its exact size, its utility, and many other distinguishing 
features. Now none of these can become to the chil- 
dren objects of personal, finished observation. The 
river, the township, or the city can be seen by the child 
only in part, and must, therefore, be studied through its 
representative on the map. The difficulty of compre- 
hending, in his childish way, an entire state through its 
map is not more formidable than the difficulty of com- 
prehending a single township through its map. On the 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 1 59 

same principle, the child may be expected to get a just, 
though vague, notion of the earth in its entirety through 
the help of a globe. Of course we must expect the 
child to know proportionately less of the details of a 
state than of his home township, less of the country 
than of his home state. But this is true simply because 
there are more of them to be known, and because they 
present greater variety and more of newness. Time 
and extended effort will correct this matter, and it must 
be corrected for most of us in the same manner for our 
home state as it is for the most distant country ; namely, 
through the study of representatives, such as maps, 
globes, verbal descriptions, specimens of products, etc. 
The important thing for teachers to keep in mind, 
therefore, is the fact that they must constantly remind 
the learner that these maps and globes stand for real 
things such as he can look about him and see, and that 
these realities are located at certain definite places upon 
the earth. This being true, the claim that we should 
begin systematic geography with the near and proceed 
synthetically to the more remote, because then we can 
employ observation at the outset, seems to be without 
force. That observation should be at the foundation of 
our study of geography is certain, but its purpose is to 
acquaint us with the nature of things so that we may 
thereby develop correct geographical general concepts — 
know just what an island is and a river, a mountain, or a 
city. It is not intended that we must employ observation 
as the only means of learning all the details about our 
home county any more than it is that we must use it to 
learn the details of Cuba, the Susquehanna River, the 



l6o SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Rocky Mountains, or London. Indeed, at this point 
observation need not play any immediate part and we 
may still become very well informed. 

Having met the mistaken claim that personal obser- 
vation is the means of learning the facts of systematic 
geography, we are prepared to make the claim that, 
since systematic geography treats of the present facts 
of this earth, and since this earth is one and not a 
class, it is, therefore, the unit of the subject and conse- 
quently the point of departure in the study of it. The 
first thing, then, to do in opening the subject of sys- 
tematic geography is to teach the child, through the 
help of a globe, what the earth is like, the disposition of 
land and water upon the earth, of countries, states, etc., 
in order to enable him to know just what part is meant 
when he studies all the minor details concerning his 
home county. For the consideration of details he 
should begin with his own district, but it should be 
after he has taken a running survey of the unit in order 
to get his bearings. This is making a rational applica- 
tion of the guide announced by Hamilton, Spencer, and 
others, " Proceed from the vague to the definite," be- 
cause it gives the learner a real and comprehensible end 
to aim at and make definite ; while the synthetic pro- 
cedure, if employed consistently from the start, does 
not enable him to fix an end, but requires him to pass 
on blindly into an ever-widening field, and to consider 
his task as finished when at its consummation the 
teacher announces the end. 

Another argument for beginning with the unit and 
proceeding analytically to its parts in geography (as we 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. l6l 

should in all else where individuals are under consider- 
ation) is based upon the fact of location. Every 
attempt to give geographical location to places is made 
in terms of the next larger division ; that is, a township 
or town is located in a county ; a county, in a state ; 
a state, in a country, etc. All this assumes an ele- 
mentary knowledge of the larger divisions first. To 
endeavor to get on without attention to the element 
of location would be to omit attention to one of the 
fundamental elements of systematic geography. 

It seems useless to argue upon this point, as some do, 
that whatever we select — a river basin, a land slope, 
etc. — may be made the unit of geography. Such a 
matter is not determined by caprice nor by any act of 
arbitrary choice. Unquestionably one might begin his 
instruction in geography at any point he chose, and 
he might call that the unit of his study ; but such 
arbitrary choosing would not render the act reasonable. 
The unit of any subject must be determined by the 
nature of the subject itself, and not by our wish in the 
matter. Botany is a science of plants, and hence a 
plant, not a leaf nor a forest, is the unit of the subject 
of botany. So geography is the description of the 
earth ; hence the earth, and neither a state nor the 
universe, is the unit of the subject. 

History presents many difficulties to the student of 
pedagogy ; first, because of the widely different natures 
of what we may call the facts of history and the phi- 
losophy of history ; and second, because of the fact that 
the subject of it — man as he appears in the organized 
unit called society, and not man in isolation — seems to 



1 62 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

be a great and growing thing into which an individual 
comes, and from which he departs without disturbing its 
steady growth. Many subjects present to us definite 
units, which, though they may undergo change, can 
still be viewed in their entirety. But history presents 
no entirety. Instead of being a definite thing which 
may be held in its integrity even while we are viewing 
the changes of growth or decay, it is rather an unmade 
thing which is only in process of becoming. But of 
one thing we are sure ; namely, that the deeds of men 
in actual society constitute the reality of history. The 
language of a book, even though it may have the word 
history printed upon it, does not constitute the vital 
matter in this study. Children must be taught to look 
beyond this language and to realize that it stands for 
just such human experiences as they may see enacted 
about them daily. Attention should, therefore, be 
called to the doings of men in the present, either as 
they may be witnessed in fact or as they are recorded 
in the daily press, so that these may serve to make 
significant the records of events that are remote both 
in time and place. It is very evident that the facts of 
history must be accumulated by the learner before he is 
prepared for rational work in the philosophy of history. 
This accumulation of facts consists chiefly in impress- 
ing them upon the learner's memory. Of course they 
should be comprehended as facts before they are com- 
mitted to memory, but, being merely facts and plainly 
stated, their comprehension should be a simple matter. 
The drill requisite for impressing them indelibly upon 
the mind is now the important _thing. Every legitimate 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 163 

attraction that may be added to this process of drilling 
is in order, but it must be understood that such attrac- 
tion cannot supersede the drill ; it merely renders it 
more effectual. When thought is taxed to determine 
the relation of historic events to each other as cause 
and effect, to form historic generalizations and opinions 
of men and measures, we are engaged upon the phi- 
losophy of history. Now drill to impress facts is no 
longer the chief concern ; it is rather an appeal to the 
understanding, and a great field for comparative study 
has been opened up. It is not meant that these two 
processes should be kept distinct in time. They are 
rather aids to each other. But it is meant that facts 
must be at hand before one may safely speculate upon 
them. It is further meant that in securing the fact, 
prime reliance must be placed upon the drill ; while in 
discussing cause and effect, men and measures, the chief 
appeal must be made to the judgment. The two pro- 
cesses should develop together and act as supports to 
each other. 

It would be an easy matter to determine the unit of 
historical study if the subject were merely a record of 
the deeds of isolated men. Each act worthy of record 
would then constitute a unit of history. But in society, 
which is the power that makes history, each man is so 
inseparably bound up with other men, and each act is so 
affected by the supporting and disturbing acts of others, 
that it is impossible to regard any one individual as the 
sole cause of a great event. It is equally impossible to 
regard any one act as the cause either of the failure or 
the accomplishment of any undertaking. Furthermore, 



164 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

it is not possible to point to any one act as the closing 
act of a great social drama, excepting as we may arbi- 
trarily choose to call it closed and to turn our thought 
to other events invested with superior interest, because 
each section of human experience thus spoken of as a 
drama enacted leaves its effects in future events both 
near and remote, until it becomes impossible to speak of 
any event as having ceased to extend itself through its 
consequences. Accordingly we select an epoch in 
human experiences as the unit of historic study. By 
an historic epoch is meant a period in the progress of 
events whose occurrences bear so intimate a relation to 
one another that we are justified in regarding them as 
merely the several parts of one prolonged enterprise ; 
as the period of colonization, or the Civil War, which 
may be regarded as epochs in American history. 

Concerning the actual reality and the unit of study 
in physiology, as in all nature study, little needs to be 
said, because their structure is so evident that it leaves 
but scant room for any differences of opinion or any 
liability to error on the part of those who think. 
Human physiology has as its reality the human body ; 
botany has plants ; mineralogy has mineral substances ; 
ornithology has birds, etc. Any attempt to substitute 
book definitions or verbal descriptions for these realities 
is a violation of the reality principle in education, and 
must lead to superficial attainment, if it escapes positive 
error. Of course, it is to be understood that personal 
observation will be supplemented and greatly aided by a 
careful study of the literature of the science, but the 
purpose here is to warn against the too common practice 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 165 

of seeming to study certain branches of the natural 
sciences by merely reading books about the things in 
question. We are not doing rational study of physi- 
ology if our efforts in that direction are exhausted when 
we commit questions and answers from even a physi- 
ology text-book. 

As the human body is the actual reality in physi- 
ology, so is a human body, and not a trunk or head or 
limb, the unit of study. When we remember that a 
whole, like the human body, a plant, or a bird, is simply 
the several parts in tJieir proper relations to each other^ 
we are in a position to realize the wisdom of opening 
our study with a view of the unit in its entirety. The 
relations of these several parts to each other cannot be 
understood except as the parts are presented to the 
learner in their relations; their functions cannot be 
appreciated unless their several relations are known. 
And when these two things are eliminated from the 
study of nature all the vital elements are gone — there 
is little else to do but give the names of things and 
recite high-sounding but meaningless phrases about 
them. 

Drawing as presented in the public schools may have 
several different purposes to fulfill ; but whatever these 
are, it seems certain that they are to be accomplished 
largely through bodily movements which are employed 
in the actual production of forms. In this effort the 
learner must be trained to observe, but it is only in 
order that he may then make ; he must be taught to 
appreciate and enjoy, but this is only the outcome of 
his wisely directed effort to make. This labor of his 



l66 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

may produce good products but be awkwardly performed. 
Hence we see that there are two distinct things which 
constitute the reahty with which the teacher of draw- 
ing has to do, — the actual productions of the child and 
the bodily movements required to produce them. Errors 
may arise either by getting a faulty product or by get- 
ting it in a faulty manner. No discussion of the way 
in which things should be done, no study of the names 
and peculiarities of geometric forms, can take the place 
here of the actual deeds of the learner. The problem 
before the teacher of drawing is the development of the 
learner's skill in manual art. It is true that we do not 
aim in the public schools to make artists ; but it is also 
true that in the drawing class we do aim at making 
children able to draw. If appreciation of the beauties 
of nature and the culture of the artistic sense were the 
only things desired, they could both be secured by other 
and better means than those used in the drawing class. 
In the drawing class it is the ability to execute intelli- 
gently that is our chief aim ; all other things are inci- 
dental to this, though they may be important in them- 
selves. Concerning the employment of the objects to 
be drawn, two opposing theories have been held. One 
is that the exact geometric forms should be regarded as 
the unit of study ; the other is that natural objects 
which embody these type forms should be taken as the 
unit of study. Several arguments can be advanced for 
accepting the second position. Geometric type forms 
are purely artificial. They are the products of a long 
and laborious period of development in human thought. 
They contain but little significance to the learner, ex- 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 1 6/ 

cepting the student of geometry, and possess no power 
to attract. On the other hand, objects in nature are 
things with which he comes into daily contact, and upon 
which his interest is already centered. To draw these 
will give to the art immediate attractiveness. Hence, 
we conclude that because of their greater motive worth 
the objects in nature, rather than the geometric type 
forms, should be taken as the unit of study in drawing. 
This means that drawing should not be begun by en- 
deavoring to make straight lines, curved lines, triangles, 
squares, etc., as a preparation for drawing objects ; but 
that at the outset the learner should be urged to repre- 
sent an object, and as the -outgrowth of such intelligent 
and attractive effort he will acquire the skill to make 
straight and curved lines as well as all combinations of 
both. This method of procedure robs the drawing 
class of its mechanical drudgery, and lends interest to 
an intelligible activity from the outset, without lessening 
any of the good results in the line of increased manual 
dexterity. 

In the writing class, as in the drawing class, we aim, 
primarily, to secure skill in an art, and not to compre- 
hend and commit definitions and rules. The actual 
realities, therefore, are the letter forms and the bodily 
movements required to make them. The learner's 
attention needs to be called to the correct forms of the 
various letters, and he needs to have his own incorrect 
copies of them carefully criticised. His bodily position, 
manner of holding the pen or pencil, movements of 
arm, etc., constitute the other elements needing a 
teacher's care. 



l68 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

The unit of study in writing is plainly the letter. 
But it is expedient that the letters should be presented 
in words, because connected with the words there is 
meaning, and thus from the outset the purpose in learn- 
ing to make letters is revealed. Nothing can take the 
place of continued drill in learning to write, but if the 
purpose of writing is thus disclosed it will relieve the 
process of much of its drudgery. A distinct aim thus 
presented to a learner awakens interest in his tasks and 
affords the best opportunity for intelligent effort. 

Having examined in detail the actual reality and the 
unit of study of a sufficiently large number of common 
school branches to enable the teacher to understand the 
principle involved, we now turn our attention to some 
of the problems involved in the discussion. 

The charge is often made that the Humanists vio- 
lated this principle, because they gave attention so exclu- 
sively to language, grammar, rhetoric, etc. Regarding 
the study of classical antiquity as the basis of all culture, 
it is true that they neglected the natural sciences and 
therefore did not study '^things" in the popular sense 
of that term. But the fact that they fostered the study 
of language in all its phases, rather than the study of 
material sciences, is no proof that they ignored the 
actual reality in education. If they studied languages 
through definitions and rules rather than through the lan- 
guages themselves, then they violated the above guide ; 
but if they took language itself as a means of learning 
language, and made definitions and laws of the language 
an outcome rather than a point of departure, they did 
not violate any of the above truth, even though they 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 1 69 

disregarded the study of material things. Their cur- 
riculum was obviously one-sided and incomplete, but it 
may have been correct as far as it went. 

Much of worth was added to the learning of the 
world when the Realists appeared, and, without dropping 
the attention given by the Humanists to words, added 
the study of material things also. These men ushered 
in the era of modern scientific research, but even with 
this, teachers frequently ignore the actual reality of the 
branch in question, and overwhelm the learner with a 
mass of words and definitions which render the work 
hopeless when given at the beginning, but round it out 
into beautiful symmetry when given in their proper 
places. 

But one other advance in the history of education 
should be noted in order to understand the growth of 
this movement. The Humanists and the Realists dif- 
fered essentially in the subject matter of their teaching, 
rather than in the manner of teaching it. The third 
school of educational thinkers — the Naturalists — dif- 
fered from the other two in their emphasis of the im- 
portance of proper methods of teaching. They gave 
pointed discussion to the thought of obedience to the 
requirements of man's nature in the teaching act. 
Things of all kinds, material and immaterial, were to be 
taught, but this was to be done in the right order and 
manner. Thus far we have determined the true order 
and manner only in part, but we at least know the way 
to a solution. Complete knowledge on these points will 
be secured only when we understand fully the nature 
of the mind that is being educated, and the nature of 



I 7^ SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

the entire round of truths by which this education is 
afforded. 

Sometimes it is impracticable for the teacher to 
bring the actual reality of a branch of study directly 
before the mind of the learner. In that case there are 
several substitutes, some of which we are forced to use, 
but we shall not fail to keep in mind that they are sub- 
stitutes, and are justifiable only on the ground of neces- 
sity. They are models, pictures, and verbal represent- 
atives. The exact order in which these should be 
resorted to it may not be possible to determine, as this 
is doubtless dependent upon many and varied circum- 
stances. The model, it is clear, presents all the 
dimensions of the reality and would seem to bear the 
closest resemblance to it ; but if the reality is large and 
specially dependent upon its surroundings for its mean- 
ing, as in geography, the model is impracticable, and a 
good picture is often clearer than any model yet devised. 
Again, if the reality is a state of mind or a truth, and 
not a material thing, both model and picture may be 
misleading, and a verbal description may be the very 
best aid a teacher can employ. But, if it is not possi- 
ble to solve the problem of the relative worth of these 
substitutes, it is still an easy matter to give some state- 
ments concerning them, which may be studied with 
profit. True concepts are not to be secured from that 
which a child has molded, but rather through the 
efforts to mold from a pattern. A child cannot make 
in clay a form that should be taken as an example of 
his notion of a cube or a sphere. His product will have 
unequal sides, irregular edges, and imperfect angles; a 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. I/I 

cube has none of these. His effort at making requires 
him to look with increasing care at the pattern presented 
to him, and this pattern may be taken as a perfect cube 
only because none of its defects are great enough to 
enable the eye to detect them. This is true of the rep- 
resentatives of all the exact concepts. Clearly, then, 
the model offered can be regarded only as an aid to the 
child in securing a true notion, and the product which 
he makes must be looked upon merely as an attempt to 
embody that notion. Nor is this confined to the exact 
mathematical concepts. A child cannot learn a type of 
birds, a geographical form, or a mechanical invention 
from that which he makes in clay or wood ; his modeling 
is valuable chiefly as a means of requiring him to look 
and to think with greater care upon that which he is 
attempting to represent. 

Again, we must not forget that the things which chil- 
dren call pictures vary so much in their nature that they 
are not equally serviceable and easy to use as teaching 
aids. A true picture, as we understand it, differs vitally 
from a map. The former by its likeness brings vividly 
to mind that which it represents ; the latter is made 
up of arbitrary signs whose meanings must be clearly 
taught. Although children often get mistaken notions 
of things when they are limited to pictures in their study, 
yet from the nursery picture books they have sometimes 
gone out into the fields to recognize cows and other 
animals at their first appearance ; no child could ever, 
upon the most careful study of a map, recognize the 
state over which he might be traveling. 

Finally, language, being symbolical, is difficult to inter- 



1/2 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

pret, and this is especially true for children if the language 
is figurative. This should impress teachers with the im- 
portance of clearness and exactness in speech. Children 
are strikingly literal in their use of terms. We may 
speak with perfect security to developed minds about a 
"breathing spell," but such expressions are meaningless 
to the child until his contact with people has made him 
familiar with such forced usage. One other reason why 
language is especially difficult as a medium of learning 
is, that through it we frequently express only the results 
of study, and these appear in the forms of generalizations. 
In this connection we shall do well to remember the 
words of Herbert Spencer : " To give the net product 
of inquiry, and not the processes by which that product 
was arrived at, is inefficient and enervating." 

The guide announced above, which is the burden of 
this chapter, contains a second part. To this we will 
now address ourselves. 

Scientists have learned to recognize that individual 
sense perception is imperfect. Because of this, account 
is taken of the " personal equation" in the effort to 
average the findings of different investigators who are 
engaged upon the same problem. It is well for teachers 
to learn this same truth. Different persons have differ- 
ent sense defects, and only by comparing the results of 
their labors can they aid each other and learn to make 
allowance for their personal defects. But even when 
there are no clearly marked defects among learners, there 
will still be differing powers of perception, which are the 
results of the varying casts of mind, or funds of acquired 
knowledge. It is well to remember that each person is 



THE ACTUAL REALITIES OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS. 1/3 

all that his past has made him. If he has constantly 
exercised his reasoning capacity to the neglect of his 
observation or his verbal memory, he has thereby made 
of himself a type of mind that is in bondage to its 
limitations. This is equally true if the emphasis has 
been placed upon any of the other faculties of the mind. 
So it is with the person who has confined his efforts to a 
very circumscribed field of learning. He can summon 
for use many valuable concepts within this field ; but 
compared with the possible scope of human endeavor, 
he is very narrow. This cooperative process makes the 
special finding of each the common possession of all. 

Again, this comparison of products requires the pupil 
to give expression to what he has learned. This act not 
only fixes better what has been learned, but it gives 
greater clearness and exactness to the learning ; and, as 
it is usually done by means of language, it affords an 
excellent means of growth in that important side of the 
child's education. It is worthy of remark here that in 
such a process of learning the teacher should reserve 
his own judgment till that of the children has been fairly 
and fully exercised. The recitation is designed for the 
good of the child, and this can be secured only in pro- 
portion to his personal effort. What the child can ac- 
complish for himself within a reasonable time under 
existing conditions should not be done for him. If it 
is, he is robbed of one of the greatest benefits that 
might come to him from a wisely managed school, and 
deprived of one of the greatest sources of pleasure. 



PART III. 
APPLIED METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
READING. 

In teaching reading two distinct things claim our 
attention. First, we must develop the child's capacity to 
interpret the forms upon the written or printed page ; 
second, we must increase his power of expressive 
utterance. 

The first of these, taken in its completeness, consti- 
tutes what is familiarly called silent reading, or thought- 
getting. In it there is much to be done that cannot be 
addressed to the child's power of comprehension, but must 
be arbitrarily impressed upon his memory. He possesses 
the ideas and is able to give oral expression to them ; 
we get from him this expression, and then in return give 
to him a written expression for the same thoughts. 
Since this is neither thought-getting nor thought-giving, 
many writers prefer to call it simply word study, which 
is preparatory to reading, but not reading. But such 
word study is so inseparably connected with what con- 
stitutes reading proper, and, indeed, forms so large a 
part of what must be done in the primary reading class, 
that we prefer to include it in the general discussion of 

174 



READING. 175 

reading. In the early part of this work the truth ex- 
pressed by the sentences used should be worthy of the 
child's attention, but it is not to be made the especial 
object of his study ; he will generally know it, and the 
recognition of the sentences themselves is now vital. 
Added to this recognition must come the ability to inter- 
pret new sentences without the aid of a teacher. When 
these two things have been accomplished, we have done 
that which forms the distinctive mission of primary 
reading. Having given to the child this power of inde- 
pendent interpretation, we have accomplished all that 
the reading class, as a distinct class, has to do for him 
in the matter of thought-getting. Now all the branches 
studied must contribute their share toward the develop- 
ment of the learner's capacity to appreciate and appropri- 
ate truth. So long as he continues to live and to learn 
from books, he will continue the practice of thought- 
getting. 

The second thing to claim our attention is oral reading, 
or thought-giving. In this there is nothing to be done 
that cannot be best done under normal conditions by im- 
pressing upon the child the thought and sentiment to be 
expressed. If the instrument of oral expression, the 
body, is in any respect defective, such defect can be cor- 
rected by purely mechanical processes. Faulty breath- 
ing, an habitual nasal tone, stammering, faulty articula- 
tion, etc., may all be improved by suitable drill exercises. 
But pitch, inflection, force, time, quality, etc., can all be 
made right by addressing to the child's intelligence the 
thoughts to be expressed. They can be taught rationally 
only by such an appeal to his understanding. In this 



176 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

thought-giving stage of our work in reading, the child 
usually comes to the printed page to get the thoughts 
of others, in order that he may have suitable thoughts 
to give. As the development of the power to inter- 
pret the printed page forms the chief mission in primary 
reading, so the development of the power to control and 
use the instrument of oral expression forms the chief 
mission in advanced reading. From this it is clearly 
seen that both thought-getting and thought-giving are 
present in all grades of reading. In primary reading 
thought-getting predominates, and the feature that is 
peculiar to primary reading is the impressing of such 
arbitrary forms as will make the child able to pronounce 
all words that will be met in his subsequent reading. 
In advanced reading, thought-giving predominates, and 
the feature that is peculiar to advanced reading is 
the development of such skill in the use of the vocal 
mechanism as will render the child an expressive reader 
for all time. Between these grades of the work no sharp 
line of demarcation can ever be discovered. Most of 
what appears in the process of reading is present 
throughout the course, but in thought-getting and 
thought-giving ever increasing ability is to be demanded, 
as we advance up the grades. 

Primary Reading. 

Having pointed out that the chief mission in primary 
reading is to give the child a mastery of the instruments 
for thought-getting, it will be profitable for us to review 
the methods that have been devised for the accomplish- 
ment of this end. 



READING. 177 

All the methods of teaching primary reading that 
have been developed are reducible to three general 
classes, — the alphabetic, the phonic, and the word or 
the sentence methods. But, whatever method we use 
in teaching reading, the same thmgs must be taught. 
When the work is completed children must know the 
letter forms, the letter sounds, and the correct method 
of combining forms and sounds. They should also know 
the letter names, and be able to give them in alphabetical 
order. This last is because of the very great need we 
have of them in reference work and in the construction 
of outlines, etc. The difference in the above methods 
is a difference in the order in which the various elements 
are taught. The method gets its name from the element 
with which the work is begun. 

The AlpJiabctic Method. This method consists in 
first teaching children the names and the forms of all 
the letters of the alphabet. When this has been done, 
or as soon as a sufficient number of letters are known 
to make it possible, words are presented and the learner 
names the letters in each word ; from this act of oral 
spelling he is supposed to be able to pronounce the word. 
The method is based upon the assumption that English 
spoken words are formed by combining the names of 
the letters in the words. This assumption is absolutely 
baseless. Spoken words are made by combining the let- 
ter sounds, and these sounds usually form no part of the 
subject matter to be definitely learned, according to the 
alphabetic method. If any evidence is needed to prove 
that English spoken words are not made up of the letter 
names, it will suffice to notice the following words pro- 



178 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

duced by combining the names of the characters in them : 
kt, b4, bQ, 4t6, nme, leg, xlnc, at/, dk, b4t, I c a b. 
Produced according to the requirements of proper 
EngHsh, by combining letter sounds, they are as follows : 
Katie, before, benign, forty-six, enemy, elegy, excellency, 
eighty-seven, decay, before tea, I see a bee. 

The claim is often made that in the days of our fore- 
fathers the alphabetic method was the only method 
known for teaching reading ; and since men learned to 
read then about as well as now, the method must, there- 
fore, be a fairly good one. In reply to this claim it may 
be asserted that, by the alphabetic method pure and 
simple, no person ever yet learned to read. Whenever it 
was thought that this method was being used, teachers 
were in reality resorting to devices which could have no 
place in a consistent alphabetic method. The teacher 
pointed to a word, say hoi^se ; and the child named the let- 
ters, h-o-r-s-e, but then of course hesitated and could not 
name the word. The teacher would call for the letters 
again and again ; each time the child would name the 
letters, and each time he would fail to learn the word from 
them. At last the teacher would say, " h-o-r-s-e, horscy" 
and then the child would say triumphantly, '' h-o-r-s-e, 
horsey With this the teacher would commend him for 
•his improvement in reading, and immediately present 
another word to have him name its letters, at which he 
would hesitate until the name of the word was given him. 
Again the word would be named by the teacher, but not 
until he had first named the letters which compose it. 
As well might he have said '< a-very-fine-big-black horse," 
as to have said '' h-o-r-s-e, horse." The truth is, the word 



* READING. 179 

is simply, /lorsc, nothing more and nothing less. By per- 
sistent continuance in such work the child was led to 
believe that he was pursuing a rational means of learning 
how to pronounce words independently. In fact, he did 
come to know something of the so?md values of the let- 
ters by seeing them again and again in words that were 
pronounced for him ; but this result was not attained by 
virtue of the teaching, but rather in defiance of it. 

What was called the alphabetic method was simply 
the word method with a large amount of worse than 
useless matter attached to it. Because the letter names, 
which were so carefully given, render no assistance in 
the pronunciation of the word, they become a positive 
interference to the learner because they distract his at- 
tention from the thing he is endeavoring to learn, that is, 
the form of the word and its name. These are the 
things he wishes to know whenever they reappear. If 
we should present a stranger to a child, and, after the 
child had become impressed with his appearance, give 
his name (Henry Allen), we would never attempt to im- 
press his appearance and his name upon the child's 
memory by giving the names of his various parts (head, 
trunk, arm, leg, neck, foot, etc.) ; much less would we 
ever think of giving the names of such parts as the 
means of enabling the child to know what his name 
must be. To do so, however, would be just as rational, 
and would be likely to succeed just as well, as to expect 
a child to pronounce English words from his knowledge 
of letter names. 

T/ie P/wnic Method. In this method we begin by 
teaching the elementary sounds of the language and the 



l8o SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

letter forms which represent them. At the outset no 
attention is given to the letter names ; when the forms 
are presented they are indicated, not by giving their 
names, but by giving their sounds. In time the child 
will be given the names of the letters and be asked to 
commit them to memory in alphabetical order ; but in the 
beginning every effort is made to associate the sound 
with the form, so that whenever the form appears, its 
sound value will come to the child's mind, and he will 
thus be enabled to pronounce the words presented. 

Though this work in phonics is necessary for the pro- 
duction of independent readers, and though the phonic 
method is a great step in advance of the time-honored 
alphabetic method, there are several reasons why the 
method which begins with the presentation of elementary 
sounds is not a rational one. 

I. It places upon the learner at the outset a large 
amount of meaningless drudgery for which he can see 
no use, and from which all rational interest has been 
taken. Whether we resort to the devices of the older 
phonetic and phonic methods, or to those of the later 
synthetic methods, the conditions are all the same. If 
reading is a process of thought-getting and thought- 
giving, then any mechanical elements in learning it 
should have their need revealed by reference to the 
thought which we attempt to represent. Granted that 
the child has an idea and gives to it oral expression ; he 
then sees some reason for the character which we put 
upon the board and call a word ; he also attaches a 
meaning to the character, and immediately his study of 
it is made reasonable. When several words are pro- 



READING. lol 

nounced and he discovers their similarities, he reahzes 
the nature and worth of elementary sounds. Likewise, 
when several words are written and he discovers their 
similarities, he realizes the natufe and worth of written 
letters. With these matters known to him, the study of 
elementary sounds and the forms which represent them 
is no longer a meaningless process. The work at once 
possesses interest, and the use to which it is all to be 
put becomes manifest. Thus the child is treated as an 
intelligent being even in the study of the most mechan- 
ical parts of primary reading. 

2. It places at the service of the child, before he 
knows how to use it, an instrument which, under the 
conditions, will defeat the very purpose for which read- 
ing is taught. Anything that does not impress upon 
the child from the beginning the habit of thought-getting 
and thought-giving in reading is a dangerous thing to 
put into his possession. If a child is made to believe 
that pronouncing words is reading, he is being deceived, 
and this is especially harmful if it is the first impression 
gained from the work in reading. At the outset, then, 
and throughout the entire course, we should aim to 
avoid everything that will tend to divorce thought from 
word, or that will give to the child a mastery of 
words before he has the habit of inquiring into their 
meanings. Only by beginning with meanings (ideas) 
and working from them to words and then down to their 
elements ca-n we have any assurance that the association 
of word and meaning will be held while we are studying 
the elements of words. Let it ever be remembered 
that language is that of which meaning and word are 



1 82 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

but two phases, and that, if we study characters devoid 
of meaning, we are not gaining a mastery of language. 

3. It is unpsychological, and therefore not in accord 
with the true order of procedure in learning. In its 
comprehension of things the mind naturally works from 
aggregates to their elements, and the subject of reading 
offers no grounds for the violation of this order. By the 
phonic methods unrelated sounds are to be learned, and 
then, from these discordant elements, the child is to 
construct, by a synthetic act, the words which he is 
studying. Since expression devoid of meaning does not 
constitute language, and since it is language that we are 
to treat in reading, it seems reasonable to conclude that 
the. elaborately analyzed elements of words, with which 
no meaning is ever attached in their separateness, do not 
constitute a reasonable point of departure in the study 
of reading. The smallest language element that has 
meaning associated with it is a word ; hence to begin our 
study of language with anything less than a word is to 
begin it with dissociated fragments, rather than with con- 
sistent units. 

Many argue that because the first language of a little 
child is a language of sounds and not words, therefore 
the sound is the thing to begin with, since our teaching 
should follow the natural order of development of the 
being that we aim to educate. In reply to this it may be 
said : (i) There is no evidence that the earliest sounds 
uttered by a little child are anything more than impulsive 
utterances and simple exercises of his vocal muscles, 
though we treat them as a clearly developed language. 
{2) Even if it is true that sounds are the first language 



READING. 183 

elements used in babyhood, we have in that no sufficient 
reason for treating a six-year-old child as we would treat 
an infant in arms. We are aiming to teach reading, not 
to teach an individual how to talk. The child already 
knows how to do that. That our teaching should follow 
the natural order of human development is undoubtedly 
true ; but it seems equally evident that what this means 
is, that we should first bring the learner into contact 
with the rational unities of the subject studied, and from 
these we should make our analysis in order to compre- 
hend the units, and our generalizations, whenever they 
are possible, in order to become masters of the truths 
which the subject may present. 

The Word 07' the Sentence Method. The word method 
of teaching reading and the sentence method of teaching 
reading are usually treated.as two distinct methods, but 
we have united them into one, in the present analysis, 
because they agree in starting with a language element 
large enough to represent meaning. Neither letters nor 
sounds have any meaning attached to them ; both words 
and sentences have. Many reasons for advocating either 
the word method or the sentence method are implied in 
the discussion given above. To emphasize these thoughts 
they might be definitely stated as follows : — 

Since reading has to do with meaning and its expres- 
sion, and since words and sentences (not letters and 
sounds) are the language elements which have meaning 
attached to them, they are the elements of expression 
which form the realities of reading, and should, there- 
fore, form the point of departure in the teaching of read- 
ing. If there is any wisdom in bringing the actual 



1 84 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

reality of a subject to the mind of a learner, there seems 
to be as much wisdom in bringing it to him in its integ- 
rity, rather than in discordant fragments. 

Many object to these methods of teaching reading on 
the ground that, failing to give the child the phonic 
elements of words, they are incomplete and render him 
dependent upon a teacher, and do not make it possible 
for him to interpret new sentences, unaided. This objec- 
tion arises from a mistaken conception of the word or 
the sentence method. The mistake lies in substituting 
a part for the whole. The objector assumes that we ex- 
haust the word method when we have given the child 
words as wholes ; naturally he concludes from this that 
we leave the child in a mentally crippled condition, un- 
less we proceed to supply the deficiency by employing 
the phonic method. 

Now the phonic method is not peculiar in that it 
teaches word sounds, but in that it is a method of teach- 
ing reading which presents sounds first and the other 
necessary elements later. By the word method we teach 
word sounds also, but as a later development, following 
the presentation of significant words as wholes, out of 
the analysis of which the meaning and use of phonics is 
revealed before we undertake their detailed study. Even 
at the expense of weariness, let me repeat that, whatever 
method of teaching reading we adopt, we must teach the 
same set of things. The difference in the methods is due 
to the different orders in which these parts are presented, 
each method taking its name from the name of the part 
that is presented first. 

Concerning the superiority of the word method or the 



READING. 185 

sentence method, there is still some debate. The advo- 
cates of each of these methods argue consistently, but 
they start from different premises. 

Those who advocate the word method do so because 
they regard the word as the unit of study in reading. 
Their argument is as follows : — 

The language elements which the child first uses 
to express his thoughts are words. 

In teaching reading we should begin with the lan- 
guage elements with which the child begins his expres- 
sion of thought. 

Therefore, in teaching reading we should begin with 
words. 

Those who advocate the sentence method do so be- 
cause they regard the sentence as the unit of study in 
reading. Their argument is as follows : — 

The smallest language element that expresses a 
complete thought is a sentence. 

In teaching reading (which is thought-getting and 
thought-giving) we should begin with the language unit 
which expresses a complete thought. 

Therefore, in teaching reading we should begin with 
the sentence. 

Now it is evident that these two parties agree in the 
opinion that reading should be taught by beginning with 
the unit of the study, and proceeding by an analytic 
process to its elements. Because of their different points 
of view, they differ in their opinion of what constitutes 
the unit of the subject of reading. The word advocates 
start from their study of the child, and declare that we 
should look to the practices of the child for the purpose of 



1 86 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

determining the unit of the language for children. They 
forget, as do some advocates of the phonic method, that, 
when we approach the child to teach him to read, he has 
passed beyond his babyhood, and that the language he 
now uses is, in comparison with that of his infancy, 
quite highly developed. The sentence advocates start 
from their study of the subject that is to be taught, and 
declare that we should determine the natural unit. of the 
subject, and then take that as our point of departure. 
This seems to me to be the more rational view, and to 
emphasize the thought that, if at any time in life a child 
is not mature enough to appreciate the unit of any 
branch of learning, he is not then old enough to begin 
the study of that branch with profit. Of course this is 
not the case with a six-year-old child and the unit of 
reading. He can appreciate sentences, for he has been 
using them for some time in his oral language. 

Happily these two methods agree in emphasizing one 
vital matter in reading, namely, making the language 
elements ivJiicJi have meaning associated zvith them the 
units of study, and therefore the starting point in teach- 
ing. In this respect they both stand opposed to all 
synthetic methods, which begin with fragments and 
endeavor to construct from them consistent units. 
Furthermore, the items in which these two methods 
differ from each other are so unimportant that, while I 
do not hesitate to declare that the greater merit attaches 
to the sentence method, I do not hesitate to recommend 
to inexperienced teachers the word method, because of 
its using an aggregate that is more manageable, espe- 
cially to those who have come up from an intimate ac- 



READING. 187 

quaintance with the alphabetic and all other " spelling 
methods" of teaching reading. After a very few les- 
sons by the word method, the child will know enough 
words to form sentences. These he will read ; and the 
new words, which are introduced apart from sentences, 
will immediately be put into sentences, and his scope of 
reading be thus extended. After a few lessons by the 
sentence method, the child will begin to detect the 
common elements in the several sentences, and will thus 
have his attention directed to individual words apart 
from their place in any one sentence. As soon as this 
point is reached the two methods are practically identi- 
cal, for when new sentences are offered they will usually 
be found to contain some elements with which the child 
is familiar. As he becomes familiar with more and more 
sentences, the unfamiliar parts of newly presented sen- 
tences will grow less numerous, until in time the teacher 
can present many new sentences in a lesson and not 
have a totally new word appear in any of them. The 
combinations of words will be new, but the individual 
words will all be familiar. By either method our aim 
should be to lead the child to take in the sentence as a 
whole before he begins to give oral exp7rssioji to it; this 
will insure smoothness of reading as nothing else will. 

Having presented what is regarded as a true philos- 
ophy of the several methods of teaching primary reading, 
we shall now give a detailed statement of the steps in the 
word method. This one is chosen, rather than the sen- 
tence method, because, of all the methods which are true 
to our general philosophy of teaching, this one presents 
the least number of obstacles to dampen the ardor of the 



1 88 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY, 

untrained teacher ; while the teacher of experience and 
philosophic insight will be able to embrace all the chances 
of gaining an advantage in the use of sentences rather 
than isolated words. 



Word Method. 

/. Woi'd-l earning Period, (i) Time, about four to 
six weeks. This is given merely as a guide, and is not in- 
tended as a statement of a fixed period. This arbitrary 
learning of words as wholes may be continued with profit 
as long as the child's interest in the zvoj^k lasts. The 
greater the number of words he can recognize instantly 
as wholes, the more naturally and fluently will he read. 
Even after word analysis is begun, we should keep up this 
learning of words as wholes just as long as he needs help 
in naming new words. When some of the phonic ele- 
ments have been learned, the new words which contain 
only the elements he knows should be worked out by the 
child, and not arbitrarily told to him. This will give him 
constant practice in applying his newly acquired knowl- 
edge of phonics, and only through such constant appli- 
cation can he gain a mastery of the system which will 
render him independent of a teacher. But all words he 
may need, which fall outside the scope of the phonics he 
has yet learned, must be presented to him arbitrarily as 
wholes. 

(2) Teach several hundred words. This also is given 
merely as a guide. Some children can take one hun- 
dred words in the time others require to learn fifty. Let 
the words be given as fast as the average of the class 



READING. 1 89 

can take them and remember them with certainty. Be 
sure that the children hold the words as they are taught ; 
if this is not done, they will grow more and more con- 
fused as additional words are presented, until they 
become completely bewildered. In all teaching, and 
especially in the early stages of subjects, it is a saving of 
time if we use time in becoming absolutely sure that 
pupils are getting what we present. 

The words chosen for this stage of the work should 
be such as the child uses in his talk. A very good plan 
is to look through the early pages of the first reader used 
in the school and pick out from there the words to be 
taught. Make occasion, in your oral work, to get the 
child to use these words as you desire to teach them. 
This will give you the assurance that he knows the mean- 
ing of each word used. When he has spoken the word, 
you can then present the same to him in form upon the 
blackboard. Of course it will be necessary for you to 
tell him that you are giving him the same word he has 
just used. The child must not be put to guessing ; he 
should be given the form, with the assurance that it is 
what he has just said, and then be required to remember 
it. At this time no reference should be made to the 
letters which compose the word. We want him to 
recognize the word in its entirety. If he confuses words 
that are similar in appearance, their differences should 
be pointed out as a means of distinguishing them. For 
example, if he confuses ''creek" and ''creep," simply 
direct his attention to the endings and thus impress the 
points of difference, but do not refer to them as k and /. 
That you may impress it upon his memory, the word 



190 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

should be written in many different places upon the 
board, be erased and reproduced for recognition, be put 
in connection with various other words previously learned, 
etc. Use many devices for assuring yourself that the 
word is not known simply in some one position. These 
devices will be the best means of fixing the forms firmly 
in the child's mind. 

Several varieties of seat work may be given at this 
stage of the child's advancement. Remembering that 
all the work done by the teacher upon the board is done 
in script and not in print, we may have the child copy 
the words taught to him. Give him a number of small 
cards containing the words taught (and others to be 
taught), and have him pick out and arrange in lots all the 
words he knows ; these words may then be written. If 
you have books printed in the script type, let him pick 
out, from pages assigned, all the words known, and then 
write them. From the time he has learned enough 
appropriate words, have him construct and then write 
many sentences. 

Do not forget that in this work persistent review, with 
all the variety and interest you can introduce into it, is 
the secret of success. The words of previous days 
should keep coming up in new connections, whenever 
they can be used. Introduce all kinds of appropriate 
games for the sake of drilling the children upon old 
words, and at the same time robbing the drill exercise 
of its mechanical drudgery. This does not mean that 
school work must all be made play, for school work that 
is significant to the child should have sufificient interest 
attached to the significance ; but it does mean that we 



READING. 191 

must do something to keep the requisite drill work of 
children from becoming a lifeless routine. 

2. Poivcr-giving Period. During this period the 
work in word analysis is done. This is for the purpose 
of giving to the child the key to pronunciation of all 
words, and thus rendering him independent of a teacher 
or any other helper, excepting a dictionary. It is nec- 
essary that the child should know three things to enable 
him to pronounce new words independently. They are, 
letter forms, elementary sounds, and the association of 
form and sound. For the purpose of making it easier 
to refer to the letters, which are now to be carefully 
studied, and also for its use in other connections, we 
should during this stage teach the letter names. These 
names should not be given, however, until the child is 
first impressed very forcibly with the sound values of 
letters. 

(i) Elementary sounds. These are best learned by a 
form of slow pronunciation. For this purpose select 
suitable words from those already learned as wholes. 
Until this work has been done, children will think that a 
word has as many sounds in it as it has syllables. Let 
this work be done at first exclusively by the teacher, so 
that by thoughtful listening the child's hearing may be 
trained to discriminate accurately between the different 
sounds. When this ear training has been accomplished 
to a sufficient extent to enable him to hear the im- 
portant sounds when made accurately, he should then be 
trained by imitation to make the sounds himself. Re- 
member that this exercise in slow pronunciation is to 
impress upon the child that words are made up of dis- 



192 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGV. 

tinct sounds. When this truth is realized he then sees 
the significance of elementary sounds and is prepared to 
make them a distinct matter of intelligent study. 

(2) Letter forms and names. These are best learned 
by making them. At this point the superiority of the 
blackboard over any chart or other ready-made set of 
letters is manifest. The teacher should be a good, plain 
writer. When a letter is to be studied, it should be 
made, before the class, upon the board. Great care 
should be taken to impress upon children the point of 
beginning and the course to be followed in making the 
letter. Then children should be allowed to trace the 
letter made ; after this should come the effort to make 
the letter at another place, but with the teacher's model 
before them ; finally they should be required to make 
the letter with no copy present. Keep in mind that this 
is not primarily an exercise in penmanship, but a lesson 
to impress a letter form. The best processes in pen- 
manship should not be violated in this exercise, however, 
and, on that account, we should have children make the 
letters at first in a large, bold hand, preferably upon the 
blackboard. 

The letters should not be learned at this time in the 
order of the alphabet, but in groups that will bring into 
prominence the unlike points in similar letters, as ;;/, n, 
?/, v^ w ; i, e ; a, d, ; b, h, k ; d, t, etc. When the 
letters are learned and can be recognized with absolute 
certainty, they should be arranged in alphabetical order 
and be committed in that order. In practice it will be 
found that learning the letter forms and their order in 
the alphabet is a very small task for most children, The 



READING. 193 

repetition of the forms in words learned, and the con- 
stant pronunciation of words, especially where sound 
and name of letter are much alike, will impress these 
letter forms and names upon a great proportion of the 
class. Let us never forget that children do much think- 
ing which is not definitely directed by us in the class, 
and we should therefore work upon the constant assump- 
tion that they possess brains. 

(3) Association of letter and sound. This is best 
learned by a process of spelling. The slow pronuncia- 
tion, used to reveal the sounds in words, being done as 
it is with the words written before the class, will enable 
the children to associate many sounds with their appro- 
priate letters. It is true that, for a time, the learners 
may not know them as letters, but rather as parts of 
the words ; but, if this is true, it is all the better for the 
learners. Letters will be seen to have value only as the 
elements of words ; and, if that is revealed when we are 
not aiming at it, we shall have but one more instance of 
undesigned teaching, which meets us at every turn. 
But when the sounds have been distinctly presented and 
the letter forms are learned, it will be found that the 
undesigned result is not complete. To these unknown 
elements we shall have to give some special study. 

One thing should be most carefully guarded against, 
namely, pronouncing the word immediately after saying 
in order the letter names which are found in it. This 
will constantly force upon the learner the idea that the 
letter names, when properly uttered, constitute the 
spoken word, — a view which we have found to be en- 
tirely without foundation. When we say c-o-l-t (letter 



194 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

names), colt, we give to the child the idea that what we 
utter makes the word. If we say c-o-l-t (letter sounds), 
colt, we impress the truth that what we utter forms the 
spoken word. This then forms the key to the method 
of spelling which should be used when we endeavor to 
establish the association of letters and sounds. The 
words used may be pronounced ; the letter names in 
them may then be given, though they are not of any 
value in this exercise ; then the letter sounds should be 
given, and immediately afterward the word should be 
pronounced. This will enable the child to associate cor- 
rectly the phonic elements of the spoken word and the 
letter forms of the written word. 

With these three elements known and the habit es- 
tablished of looking at words (not letters or sounds) as 
the units in reading, and of viewing these words as the 
signs of distinct meanings, the child has in his possession 
the key to all reading. Now, having been set right in 
this most important of the school arts, the child needs but 
to apply his information and to continue the exercise of 
his habit of regarding word meanings, and he will become 
an expressive reader. He needs more enlightenment 
than this and greater skill than he yet possesses to make 
him an artistic reader, but these things will be furnished 
in the advanced reading exercises and in all other exercises 
which add to his store of knowledge and wisdom. 

Ge?ie7nl SiLggestioiis. In all blackboard work in pri- 
mary reading use sc?^tpt letters, because you can make 
them better and because the child never needs to learn 
to print. If he does learn to print, it will only injure 
his penmanship, and he will, moreover, be forced to drop 



READING. 



195 



it as soon as he is through with it in primary reading. 
If script is used, the letters are coiuiected, and hence 
the words appear as units. This being so, there will be 
less tendency on the child's part to " spell " words, even 
if he has learned the letters at home. 

In making the transition from the script to the printed 
book, do not magnify the difficiilties. The child will find 
nothing to appall him if the teacher does not previously 
announce that now he is about to undertake a task that 
will tax his powers to their utmost. Remember that 
children naturally notice resemblances rather than dif- 
ferences among things. The difference between script 
and print is no greater than the difference between differ- 
ent styles of script, and yet we expect children to read 
the writing of one person if they are able to read that 
of another. Simply present in script a sentence that 
you can duplicate in print ; have the script read, being sure 
that every person knows it ; now with the printed duplicate 
before them, ask for volunteers to read it. In every ordi- 
inary class there will be persons who will see the similarity 
and will read the sentence in print. Now, without fur- 
ther comment, excepting perhaps to encourage them in 
the work, assume that they can read print and refer to it 
or to the script indifferently. If the teacher makes no 
more of the imaginary difficulty than this, the children 
will make the transition and almost never discover a 
difficulty. 

When sentences containing a common idiom are used, 
children will soon grow familiar with the idiom ; and, un- 
less we proceed with caution, they will repeat the idiom 
mechanically, as a child in the nursery will repeat the 



196 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

story of his picture book when he sees the picture. 
Fond parents often think such a child can read, when in 
reahty he has merely learned to '' speak a certain piece " 
in connection with each picture. These idioms should 
frequently be changed in order to avoid this mechanical 
result. 

Remember that a child can spell without knowing the 
letters, or even that there are such things as letters. 
When a child can make as a whole a word you may call 
for, he can spell that word. He may not be able to say 
the names of the letters which form the word, but this is 
not essential to spelling. Spelling is simply putting to- 
gether letters in such a way as to form words. This 
the child does when he writes whole words, and, in the 
act, he employs the only form of spelling that is of any 
great value — written spelling. 

Though the blackboard is preferable to a chart or a 
book for most of the early work in primary reading, 
there is a certain amount of material that one can with 
profit keep in permanent form and have ready for use at 
any moment. To supply this a chart is a valuable ad- 
junct. These cost more money than some districts can 
or will spend for such material, but fortunately this need 
not act as a barrier in the way of any earnest teacher. 
A few cents and some mechanical ingenuity will en- 
able him to surmount this obstacle. Buy some sheets of 
manila wrapping paper, cut the size you may desire 
for your chart ; paste upon these sheets such pictures, 
cut from cast-off magazines or other periodicals, as you 
have found by experience to be interesting and valuable 
to children in their language work ; below the picture 



READING. 



97 



on a given sheet, write the sentences you wish to teach 
from that picture ; around the entire margin write words, 
— - those found in the sentences you teach and others, — 
making a complete border of plainly written words. 
Repeat this general plan on the other sheets, being 
careful to put repeated words in different positions on 
the margins of the several sheets. Thus constructed, 
you have the best chart for you that could be made, 
because you have embodied in it the things which your 
own thought has dictated as the items to be brought 
out of each picture. This will rob the process of its 
forced mechanical character on your part. 

The best use to which such a chart can be put is as a 
means of review. The sentences found upon it can best 
be developed in the oral language class, to be reproduced 
for reading, first upon the blackboard. Then the chart 
can serve its best purpose in supplying material for 
review. In the early learning of words it helps a child 
greatly if he can see how they are made. Increased 
permanence is given to the impression if we add the 
activity of his motor side in having him make these 
same words. 

Gradually lead children to read whole stories, rather 
than merely disconnected sentences. A love for proper 
reading should follow close upon the ability to read. 
This love can be developed only by bringing the child 
into touch with consistent and valuable reading matter ; 
incompleteness always has a tendency to divert the atten- 
tion, and in time to render the work aimless. The best 
modern reading books for the grades are carrying out 
this idea, and are framing their sentences, not only with 



193 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

a view to introducing words in a certain order, but also 
with reference to the consistency of the ideas expressed. 
In them, therefore, the sentences will stand somewhat 
apart, for the purpose of making their observation easier ; 
but the succession of sentences marks the continuation 
of a consistent body of thought. 

As soon as the children are capable of doing it, have 
them read easy exercises from the daily papers and 
other publications. Show to the child, as soon as 
possible, that he is learning to do just what older per- 
sons do. This will make his interest greater and 
more real. It will unite the school with the world more 
closely, and will make the occupations of the school seem 
less fictitious than they ordinarily do. 

Be very careful to interpret wisely tne expression, " a 
child's vocabulary." This often conveys to people an 
incorrect idea. There is not one set of words for child- 
hood and another set of words, expressive of the same 
ideas, for mature life. There are ideas which are upper- 
most in the child's mind and other ideas which engage 
the attention of developed minds. But, when the child 
has an idea, the word given him to express it should be 
the word that older persons would use to express the 
same idea. There is no rational ground for either the 
general prevalence of ''baby talk" on the part of those 
who have to do with children or the belief that a small 
word must be used for every idea with a child. Words 
are not difficult in proportion to their size. It is the 
idea that is the troublesome matter, and, when that is 
mastered, a large word is as simple a means of express- 
ing it as a small word, provided always that the large 



READING. 199 

word is not specially complicated in its pronunciation. 
Authorities justly condemn the practice of making chil- 
dren '< entertaining playthings to pass away the time for 
adults." When it is done it is always at the expense of 
the child's healthy development. 

Furthermore, to improve a child's vocabulary means 
more than simply to increase the number of words at his 
command ; it means also to increase his understanding 
of the significance of words which he already uses. This 
can be done both by showing the wider applications of a 
word in the sense in which he knows it, and also by giv- 
ing him the additional meanings of the word. 

When the child begins the use of a reading book, 
and even when he is reading sentences from the board, 
it is a good plan to call upon him frequently to tell the 
truth of the sentence, paragraph, or stanza, before per- 
mitting him to read it aloud. He should never be per- 
mitted to begin the expression of a sentence until he has 
seen the entire sentence and is sure he can pronounce 
all its words. If, in addition to this, we require him to 
know the significance of a sentence before permitting 
him to read it aloud, we shall do much toward establish- 
ing the habit of regarding meanings as paramount, and 
words as valuable simply in so far as they represent 
meanings. The effect of such habit upon the child's 
future is almost immeasurable. It will prevent " reading 
over " things in the listless manner that is so prevalent, 
as well as the practice of committing to memory simply 
the language of such matters as should be addressed to 
the understanding. 



200 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Advanced Reading. 

It is not intended that the course to which the name 
Advanced Reading is given shall be so advanced as to 
require a specialist in this department to teach it. But, 
while attention is to be directed here to all that part of 
reading which follows a mastery of the fundamental 
mechanics of reading as treated above, it is well to re- 
member that there is no fixed upper limit. If a specialist 
in reading, who can do all the finer work in expression, 
is in the schools, all the better for the schools, provided 
other things get their due proportion of attention. We 
shall not endeavor, therefore, to discuss in this connection 
all the problems of expression, but rather to present the 
method and philosophy of reading as it may be appre- 
ciated and applied by the teacher of ordinary equipment. 

From the outset, one important distinction must be kept 
in mind ; that is, the distinction between the drill which is 
to increase one's skill in the use of the organs of expres- 
sion, and the drill which one is to get in the effort at 
real expression. 

The first of these rests on the assumption (and the 
assumption seems warranted) that people generally have 
either some defect in the organs of expression or some 
bad habits of expression which need to be corrected, 
before they can give the best utterance to thoughts and 
sentiments which they may possess. It is well known 
that, by appropriate exercises, a throat naturally weak 
and troublesome may be made strong ; that the breath, 
usually uncontrolled and escaping in convulsive move- 
ments, may be so mastered as to avoid waste and to be 



READING. 20 1 

converted into a regular, steady tone ; that angular and 
awkward movements of the body may be supplanted by 
graceful and easy ones. But all of these things, and 
many others, such as range and flexibility of tone, ges- 
ture, poise, and facial expression, presuppose, on the part 
of the teacher, a special preparation not generally found 
in those who preside over our schools. The elements 
of clear articulation and correct pronunciation, however, 
may be attended to by all qualified teachers, and should 
receive attention throughout all the grades and in all 
classes where oral language is used. The ability to do 
these things must become crystallized into the habit of 
doing them, or else the child, with all his ability, will 
fail to read in a smooth and artistic manner. To this 
end, drill upon suitable words should be frequent ; but in 
such drill the words should generally be divorced from 
thought — should not be used in sentences. 

When the words are put into sentences, so that the 
learner may get drill in the utterance of them in differ- 
ent series, we should do whatever is necessary to keep 
him from confusing, in his thought, such an exercise in 
vocal utterance with real reading. 
Examples : — 

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 

Where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? 

Some shun sunshine. Do you shun sunshine? 

With these obvious exceptions attended to we must 
dismiss this phase of our problem, therefore, as being 
unsuited to existing conditions ; and, while we deplore the 
fact, continue to entertain the hope that the time is not 



202 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

far distant when this element of professional fitness will 
be added to the steadily increasing list of advances along 
other lines. 

Assuming, then, that we must take the child as we find 
him, with his mechanism of expression distorted, and no 
means of remedying it at hand, we must address our- 
selves to the second element of our problem, — that of 
improving his ability to use an imperfect instrument in 
real expression. 

As a comprehensive guide to all that shall be said, the 
following is announced : — 

Practical mastery of timCy pitch, force, quality, slides, 
etc., can be secured ojily by making them the outcome of an 
appreciation of the thougJU and feeling of that which is 
to be read. 

Definite mechanical rules regarding pitch, pauses, 
slides, etc., are usually worse than useless. Reading is 
giving expression to a state of mind ; it is not the utter- 
ance of a series of sounds suggested by the printed page. 
The flexibility of voice which characterizes earnest con- 
versation may be taken as the best example of the end 
to be aimed at in reading. Not that reading is the same 
thing as talking ; it is a much more difficult act. In 
talking we have our own ideas, their flow is determined 
by a goal which we have set for ourselves and by the 
unchecked tendency of the mind in reaching its ends ; 
in reading we are confined to the ideas of another, which 
ofttimes we do not fully appropriate, and we are 
hampered by the necessity of giving direction to our 
thoughts step by step as we interpret the printed page. 
This effort to comprehend the meaning and aim of an 



READING. 203 

author, which is too often not completed before expres- 
sion is begun, hinders the rise of appropriate emotion. 
We do not thus think his thoughts after him, and Hve the 
experiences through which he passed, but we exhaust 
our energies in the purely intellectual effort of finding 
out what his thoughts and sentiments were. There is 
a vast difference between the mental effort required to 
search out the words and their significance, and, on the 
other hand, to transport one's self in imagination to the 
midst of a scene such as must have filled the mind of 
the author when he wrote the following : — 

Have you seen an apple orchard in the spring? 

In the spring? 
An English apple orchard in the spring? 
When the spreading trees are hoary with their wealth of promised glory, 
And the mavis pipes his story in the spring? 

Have you plucked the apple blossoms in the spring? 

In the spring? 
And caught their subtle odors in the spring? 
Pink buds bursting at the light, crumpled petals baby-white, 
Just to touch them a delight in the spring ! 

Have you walked beneath the blossoms in the spring? 

In the spring? 
Beneath the apple blossoms in the spring? 
When the pink cascades were falling, and the silver brooklets brawling. 
And the cuckoo bird is calling in the spring? 

Have you seen a merry bridal in the spring? 

In the spring? 
In an English apple country in the spring? 
When the brides and maidens wear apple blossoms in their hair ; 
Apple blossoms everywhere, in the spring? 

If you have not, then you know not, in the spring, 

In the spring, 
Half the color, beauty, wonder of the spring. 
No sight can I remember, half so precious, half so tender, 
As the apple blossoms render in the spring ! 
* William Welsey Martin, quoted in Curry's "Lessons in Vocal Expression." 



204 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Since it is necessary that the child should get him- 
self into an appreciative state of mind before he can read 
with real expression, it follows that he should do much 
silent reading to familiarize himself with the author's 
words, and also be led by appropriate conversation and 
other means into the state of mind to be expressed, before 
he undertakes to read aloud. When the language is his, 
and the sentiment to be expressed is entered into, he will 
approach in his reading as near as possible to the ease 
and unrestraint of talking. With either of these ele- 
ments neglected, no rules for modulation, pitch, rate, or 
any other objective quality of expression will be suffi- 
cient to render the child's reading anything else than 
artificial. 

Let me repeat, then, that while talking through the 
nose, mumbling words, misplacing accent, or other errors 
in articulation and pronunciation may all be corrected 
by definite drill exercises of a somewhat mechanical 
nature ; and, while definite directions may be given to 
guide the learner in such drill exercises, these things are 
only the means of expression, and do not constitute the 
real essence of the matter. While this is being done 
(and its importance is conceded), we are merely getting 
the child's instruments of expression into good working 
condition, so that they will serve him when he comes to 
the act of expression. We are habituating his mechan- 
ism to correct action, whereas it has been growing 
accustomed to an incorrect form. Expression or read- 
ing comes only where there is a vital thought and senti- 
ment to be made manifest. For this there are no direc- 
tions for the exhibition of external feats that are adequate, 



READING. 205 

if the individual is not filled with the sentiment itself ; 
if he is thus filled, directions are unnecessary. What- 
ever emphasizes these extern'als renders the reading a 
mere matter of manner, without touching the real inner 
cause of true expression. 

That we may not seem to be beating at mere shadows 
in urging the fruitlessness of directions respecting pauses, 
inflection, stress, etc., we append the following rules, 
merely to show what may be found in works of recog- 
nized authority in a certain kind of elocution, and what 
one may hear taught in a large number of classes in 
reading : — 

'' In general make a slight pause at a comma ; a longer 
pause at a semicolon ; and a still longer pause at a 
period." 

" A rhetorical pause should be made between the 
subject and the predicate of a sentence when the subject 
is emphatic, or when it consists of a phrase or a clause, 
or of a noun modified by a phrase or a clause." 

'* Make a rhetorical pause before a clause used as 
a predicate nominative, or as the object of a verb." 

(In one work alone, ten rules like the above are given 
for pauses.) 

'' Questions requiring j^j- or no for an answer have the 
rising inflection, except when very emphatic." 

" Words repeated in surprise take the rising inflection, 
and are emphatic." 

** Words and phrases of address, unless very emphatic, 
take the slight rising inflection." 

(In all, there are twenty-two rules for rising, falling, 
and contrasted inflections.) 



206 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Further, we are told that the '' radical stress is the 
stress of animation, of earnestness, of assertion, of com- 
mand, and of passion." 

Again, " Fast or quick movement is the characteris- 
tic rate in the expression of mirth, fun, humor, gladness, 
joy, and haste." *'Joy, mirth, and gayety incline the 
voice to pure tone and high pitch. Calling to persons at 
a distance inclines the voice to high pitch and pure tone. 
Anger, courage, boldness, and exultation incline the 
voice to high pitch and loud force." 

It seems useless to give more examples to show how 
stilted and artificial all reading must become that is 
produced through the observance of rules like the above. 
Where the rule does not contain more complicated con- 
ditions than any intelligence can embrace while occupied 
in reading, it is either untrue or an expression of surface 
results which never need to be aimed at, // onfy we get 
the reader into the state of mind portrayed in what is 
being read. 

Our one fundamental guide, then, to all true and 
successful teaching of advanced reading is this : — 

Give mechanical drill in whatever will improve the 
organs of expression and habituate them to proper action. 
When thought and sentiment are present to be expressed, 
familiarize the child first with the language in which they 
are expressed ; then do whatever is required to bring him, 
at least in imagination, into the state of mind which is to 
be expressed. 

If, when these things are observed, the child reads too 
fast or too slow, in too high a key or with faulty inflec- 
tions, you may attribute it to misunderstanding of what 



READING. 207 

is being read, to bad habits of customary speech simi- 
lar to those now manifest in his reading, or to "stage 
fright," which causes lack of control, even without the 
individual being aware of it. When the teacher finds 
which of these is the cause of the bad reading, he knows 
where to apply a rational remedy for the present defect ; 
if he cannot find the cause, no number of rules for cor- 
rect reading will be of any avail. 

Remember, finally, that oral reading is an art ; and it 
is an art, like instrumental music, which employs the 
muscles of the body (a mechanical art). Therefore, no 
matter how large a number of definitions and rules one 
may recite with accuracy, he will become a successful 
reader only by practicing, under rational guidance, the 
muscle exercise of expression. The only rational 
guidance for such exercise must come from the mind 
of him who exercises, and, to this end, the reader 
must be filled with that to which he would give ex- 
pression. 

In corroboration of this view, take any class of ordinary 
intelligence, and with maturity enough to appreciate what 
is to be read ; converse with them, explain to them, and 
question them till you get them into sympathy with the 
sentiment to be expressed ; then, without a word about 
any of the mechanics of reading, have them read the 
appended selections. Note how they vary the pitch, 
time, quality of tone, inflection, pauses, etc., to suit the 
varying sentiments aroused in them. If they give what 
you regard as a wrong emphasis, or pause at the wrong 
place, say nothing about changing the emphasis or the 
pause, but ask such questions as may be answered in 



208 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

the language of that which they are reading, and note 
how naturally they will correct the faulty emphasis or 
pause. 

Test Exercises in Advanced Reading. 

Away to the hills, to the caves, to the rocks, — 
Ere I own a usurper, I '11 couch with the fox ; 
And tremble, false Whigs, in the midst of your glee, 
You have not seen the last of my bonnet and me. 

Scott. 



Crossing the Bar. 

Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me ! 

And may there be no moaning of the bar when I put out to 

sea, 
But such a tide as moving seems asleep, too full for sound and 

foam. 
When that which draws from out the boundless deep turns again 

home. 

Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark ! 

And may there be no sadness of farewell, when I embark ; 

For tho' from out our bourne of time and place the flood may 

bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar. 

Tennyson. 

Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing 
but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country 
become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and 
terror, but of wisdom, of peace, and of liberty, upon which the 
world may gaze with admiration forever. 

Daniel Webster. 



READING. 209 



The Wind That Kissed the Rose ; or, 
The Scandal in the Garden. 

All the garden was astonished 

At the scandal running there ; 
All the mother-flowers admonished 

All their daughters to beware ; 
Every pretty pansy pouted 

Underneath her Quaker hood, 
And the peonies fairly shouted 

With amazement where they stood. 

And the poppies from their languor 

Seemed to waken for a spell, 
When the columbines in anger 

Clattered every purple bell. 
While nasturtiums, stern in duty. 

Leaned against the garden wall, 
And each portulaca beauty 

Shut her crimson parasol. 

All the larkspurs in their places 

Grew as blue as blue could be ; 
And the sunflowers turned their faces, 

That they might not seem to see. 
And the modest morning-glory 

Hastened all her ears to close, 
When she heard the dreadful story, 

That the Wind had kissed the Rose. 

Oh ! was ever such a scandal 

In the garden heard before ? 
And the wind — the saucy vandal — 

They would countenance no more ; 
And the wanton rose should rue it 

Till the moment of her death. 
There was no mistake — they knew it, 

For they smelled it on his breath. 



2IO SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

And in virtuous indignation, 

How they toss their pretty heads, 
As the terrible relation 

Round about the garden spreads ! 
But their modest daisy sister, 

When she heard them all condemn. 
Wondered how they knew he kissed her. 

If he wasn't kissing them. 

Lee O. Harris. 

On His Blindness. 

When I consider how my light is spent 
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, 
And that one talent which is death to hide 
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 
To serve therewith my Maker, and present 
My true account, lest He returning chide, — 
Doth God exact day-labor, light denied ? 
I fondly ask : — But Patience, to prevent 
That murmur, soon replies : God doth not need 
Either man's work, or His own gifts : who best 
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best: His state 
Is kingly ; thousands at His bidding speed 
And post o'er land and ocean without rest : — 
They also serve who only stand and wait. 



Milton. 



Rabbit in the Cross-Ties. 

Rabbit in the cross-ties, — 

Punch him out — quick ! 
Git a twister on him 

With a long prong stick. 
Watch him on the south side — 

Watch him on the — Hi ! — 
There he goes ! Sic him,Tige ! 

Yil Yi!! Yi!l! 



Riley. 



READING. 211 

General Suggestions. Every teacher should be a 
clear, easy, sympathetic reader, because the reading of 
the teacher will become very largely the model for 
the children. Children should hear much good read- 
ing of a grade suited to their capacity. In this way 
their taste for suitable reading may be cultivated, 
their fund of information greatly increased, and their 
capacity for enjoyment enlarged. 

Though the teacher should read much to the children 
and serve as their model, still they should not be allowed 
an opportunity for direct imitation. If they are studying 
a certain selection, the teacher may read a paragraph ; 
but the child should not be called upon then to read 
that same paragraph. The teacher may with profit take 
this means of interpreting for the children the spirit of 
a selection, and the children should be required then to 
read the other parts of the selection. 

In the reading class there should be many exercises 
that will require the learners to get thought. This may 
be done by paraphrasing, epitomizing, illustrating by 
drawings, reviewing, criticising, or discussing the various 
writings. 

Beyond the third, or at most the fourth, reader there 
should be very little work done from the ordinary read- 
ing book. If the series of books in use contains articles 
that are worth knowing, they may with profit be used 
for exercises in reading. But, if the books contain 
articles chosen merely with a view to having them serve 
the purpose of a reading exercise, they should be set 
aside, and in their place should be substituted such 
books as geographical readers, historical readers, nature 



2I2 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

readers, stepping-stones to literature, and actual literary 
productions in poetry or prose ; in a word, such works 
as present something to learn that is worthy of a child's 
time and effort at the same time that they furnish the 
material for a reading exercise. 

All that has been said concerning the unwisdom of 
giving children rules for pitch, inflection, emphasis, etc., 
as a means of making their reading natural, should not 
deter the teacher from making himself familiar with all 
these elements of effective reading. He should know 
what they are, because then he will know what different 
elements need attention in training the child to read. 
It does not follow from this, however, that the way to 
make a child a good reader is to call his attention to the 
plan of emphasis, inflection, pitch, etc., and to have him 
read according to rules of each. If we wish a child to 
learn to walk gracefully, we do not call to his attention 
the method of moving his arms, feet, hands, etc., though 
the director should have knowledge of each of these 
items ; we direct his attention to the one central ele- 
ment, the carriage of his body ; then we have him fix 
his mind upon an objective point, and he moves toward 
it with ease and grace. Just so in reading. When we 
have trained the vocal mechanism to act with ease and 
correctness, we should stimulate the mind to an appreci- 
ation of the sentiment to be expressed, and then the 
expression will follow with naturalness ; pauses will be 
observed, as in talking ; inflections will be correct ; and 
the pitch and time will of necessity reveal the state of 
the reader's mind. 



LANGUAGE LESSONS, 213 



CHAPTER XIV. 
LANGUAGE LESSONS. 

Language lessons must be clearly distinguished from 
the earliest lessons in formal grammar, with which they 
are often identified, because the aims of the two subjects 
are different and the resulting methods must be different. 

The aim of the language lessons is the development 
of proper habits in the use of language. This can be 
done only in the way in which all habits must be formed, 
— by repeating persistently the acts which we desire to 
make habitual. The study of rules of language will not 
accomplish the desired end in the language class. True, 
a knowledge of the rules of syntax, which should be 
given later, will fortify the learner in his use of correct 
forms, and also serve as a guide to the correction of any 
improper forms to which he may have become accus- 
tomed. But his knowledge of such rules cannot be 
taken as a guarantee of his use of the forms which they 
prescribe. Language, and especially oral language, 
must be wrought into the very being of the child, 
through use, so that, when his mind is occupied with a 
subject of thought, his language mechanism will work 
in obedience to that thinking, and proper expression will 
be the easy and natural result. Knowledge of correct 
forms cannot accomplish this ; nothing but a habit of 
correct doing can bring it about, 



214 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Our first position, then, is that the language class is 
not the place for the study and recitation of easy defini- 
tions in grammar ; neither is it the place for much recita- 
tion of the rules of grammar. If rules are given at all, it 
is to the end that they may be used in the construction 
of the child's oral or written language. It is the place 
for him to think and talk and write ; and while this is 
being done, the forms of his expression should receive 
the attention of his teacher. If they are correct, they 
should be emphasized and repeated ; if they are incorrect, 
they should be put aside and correct ones substituted. 

But a child cannot be expected to manifest a lively 
interest in mere forms of language, unless he is given 
something interesting to think about, which will make 
an occasion for his use of language. This, then, indi- 
cates that, if our method of procedure is to be a wise 
one, it must not be a purely formal one, in which the 
subject matter is of no consequence, and the form of 
expression is everything. Doubtless, if children were 
interested enough to desire correct speech, such formal 
work would suffice to give it to them ; but when we 
are compelled to arouse their interest in learning at 
the same time that we are engaged in helping them to 
learn proper language forms, we should select, as the 
occasion for their use of language, the subjects about 
which they may wish to speak or write. 

Sentences should, therefore, be taken as the language 
units with which to begin this study. In these the cor- 
rect or incorrect forms will appear. Now that the words 
are associated with thought, they constitute language ; 
apart from thought, they are simply sounds or forms, 



LANGUAGE LESSONS. 2 I 5 

Single words from these sentences, which may need 
especial study, may now be isolated for that purpose, be- 
cause at this time the child can fully realize the aim of 
such fragmentary study, and is thereby rendered intelli- 
gent in his work. 

Since language lessons are for the purpose of fix- 
ing habits in the life of the child, we should note care- 
fully the two antecedent conditions of habit formation. 
Sometimes an ideal can be worked out in the intelligence 
of the learner, and a distinct effort be put forth to reach 
it by means which the learner fully comprehends. This, 
however, is confined pretty largely to the few choice 
souls of superior mold. More frequently the ideal 
must be presented by another person, and it is generally 
presented with greatest force, not by precepts, but in the 
life. This, then, is copied by the learner either inten- 
tionally or unintentionally until it becomes the fixed 
condition of his life. The teacher's use of language, 
therefore, both in the language class and elsewhere, must 
largely condition the child's use of it. It is perhaps 
equally true that the child's environment at home and 
elsewhere will play an important part in determining his 
language habits ; but this, if it is bad, the teacher can 
only deplore and labor to overcome. His own part he 
can prevent from being wrong. Proper thinking (such 
as can be engendered by familiarity with the best in 
literature) and proper speaking, on the part of the 
teacher, will do much toward insuring success in the 
language classes of the school. 

The actual speech and writing of the children should 
constitute the material for the language class. Every 



2l6 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

recitation affords an exercise in language, but such 
incidental work is not enough. Bad habits can easily 
be formed incidentally, but they cannot be removed and 
the corresponding good ones substituted except as the 
result of patient effort. The language of children should 
be carefully obsei'ved ; their errors should be noted ; 
these should be classified, and be used as the material 
for the language lessons ; evidently, then, no language 
book should be in the hands of the learner for this work. 
The teacher must decide upon the subject matter for 
each day's lesson, and the child's work upon the lesson 
will be to carry out what has there been taught. The 
teacher may have a book, and should indeed have 
several different ones ; from these he may get sugges- 
tions as to what should be looked for, how best to classify 
the common errors, in what order they may best be cor- 
rected, etc. It is in this way that the experience of 
eminent teachers may be made available to those less 
advanced ; and this is making a rational use of the ele- 
mentary language book. 

Scope of the Work. 

It is not the intention to point out in this place the 
detailed forms which are to be taught, and the specific 
plans by which this is to be accomplished. We shall 
aim rather at giving a larger survey of the work to be 
done, and trust to the teacher to get detailed informa- 
tion from books on language. 

I. Grammatical Correctness of Expression. In most 
language teaching this is the first and only thing that 
receives attention. Certain well-established errors hav^ 



LANGUAGE LESSONS. 21/ 

pushed themselves so much to the front in the language 
of school children that teachers have grown to expect 
them ; and, true to the traditional idea of their critical 
office, they are generally prepared to detect and correct 
them. Too much cannot be said in praise of the effort 
to improve the language of children in this respect. 
Correct English is one of the most evident signs of good 
breeding, and, without it, scarcely any amount of social 
polish or even moral good-will can atone for its absence, 
or give one a place in the midst of men of education. 
But have we always sought to attain this end by wise 
means ? Much time has been given to reciting defini- 
tions of the various parts of speech, or rules of syntax 
for the government of various forms in sentence con- 
struction ; great effort has been expended upon parsing 
and the correction of "false syntax" ; weary months 
have been consumed in the analysis of detached sen- 
tences, — and all this with a view to correcting, in some 
mysterious way, the child's use of English, while at 
the same time he is permitted, through speech and 
writing, in class, upon the playground, everywhere, to 
fasten more and more firmly upon his life the incorrect 
forms of daily use. This he does without any thought 
that the mental effort expended upon his lessons in ele- 
mentary grammar might be put to so much greater 
profit, at this time, if directed to the improvement of his 
actual speech and writing. He is being deluded into the 
belief that language is a thing to be gained from books, 
whereas it has been fastening itself upon his life from 
babyhood ; and the same practice that fixed it then 
must, in so far as there are incorrect forms present, be 



2l8 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

appealed to in ridding the child of the false and estab- 
lishing upon him the true. 

Two general forms of correct language should engage 
the teacher's effort, — oral language and written language. 
There are errors that can appear only in speech, others 
that are confined to writing, and still others common to 
both. Because of this, the language lesson must not be 
thought of as merely a lesson in written composition. 
The amount of oral language work should be far in 
excess of the amount of written work. 

Correct pronunciation and articulation, while in a 
peculiar sense items for the reading class, should receive 
most careful attention in the language class also. Spell- 
ing, especially of plural forms, possessive forms, etc., 
is a matter which should be specially watched in the 
language lesson. Capitalization and punctuation, quota- 
tions and abbreviations, syllabification and paragraphing, 
are all items which the language teacher must impress. 
Of the errors common to both speech and writing there 
are many, but all of these have been classified by Sarah 
L. Arnold under four distinct heads, — the plural forms 
of nouns, the agreement of noun and verb, the case forms 
of pronouns, and the tense forms of irregular verbs. 

The order in which these items may be taken up, the 
details of the several cases given above, and the devices 
for teaching them successfully may all be obtained from 
the various language books now upon the market. As 
a guide to the inexperienced teacher, mention may be 
made of such books as Mary F. Hyde's '' Practical 
Lessons in the Use of English," Mrs. N. L. Knox's 
"How to Speak and Write Correctly," and M. W. 



LANGUAGE LESSONS. 2I9 

Hazen's '' First Book of Observation, Thought, and 
Expression." 

2. Clearness of Exp7rssion. Correct forms of noun 
or pronoun with verb, and all other strictly grammatical 
elements of English sentences, might be fixed with accu- 
racy in a child's speech and writing, so that everything 
uttered could be parsed or analyzed correctly, and still 
his language might lack clearness. 

This imperfection may arise either from obscure think- 
ing or from careless utterance, due to giving insufficient 
attention to our words. "All men who were there were 
not interested," is an example of the latter. If these 
words are interpreted just as they are uttered, instead of 
as they are meant, we must conclude that the speaker is 
saying something about all the men present at a certain 
place, and that he is asserting of them all that tJiey ivcre 
not interested. In fact, such a sentence is generally used 
when it would be clearer to assert that '* not all the 
men who were there were interested," or that ''some of 
the men who were there were not interested." This is 
what is meant, and therefore it is what should be said. 
Other suggestive examples are : '* Lysias promised his 
father never to abandon his friends"; '* Parmenio had 
served, with great fidelity, Phillip the father of Alex- 
ander, as well as himself, for whom he first opened the 
way into Asia " ; ''Thus ended the war with Antiochus, 
twelve years after the second Punic war, and two after 
it had been begun." In all of these the speaker doubt- 
less knows just what is intended, but the careless 
arrangement of his phrases leaves the hearer in great 
doubt as to what is meant. 



220 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

To distinguish by examples between the cases of 
careless utterance growing out of insufficient attention 
to language and the cases of loose and imperfect think- 
ing is a very difficult matter, because both are revealed 
through sentences which fail to express exactly what 
should be said. In the above sentences, a few questions 
would reveal the fact that the speaker thinks correctly, 
but speaks with indifference. In such as the following 
it will generally be found that his thinking and his 
speech are both hazy and uncertain : ''If three-fourths 
of a number is twelve, one-fourth is one-third of twelve, 
or four, and four-fourths are four times four, or sixteen " ; 
*' The product of the sum and difference of two num- 
bers equals the difference of their squares " ; *' Feet 
multiplied by feet give square feet." Inquiry for the 
base in the first ; the two numbers, their sum, their 
difference, which one is subtracted from the other, in the 
second ; and the character of the multiplier in the third 
will reveal the fact that the trouble lies in the child's 
faulty thinking. 

Improvement in clearness of expression must, then, 
be brought about by increased accuracy in thought. 
Well-chosen questions, which will require the child to 
analyze his expressions, are the teacher's means of forc- 
ing accuracy in thought. Not only will the child's 
improved thinking make his speech clearer, but also 
absolutely exact speech will react upon his thought, 
clarifying that and rendering him dissatified with mere 
approximations to the truth. Because of this, exagger- 
ated or otherwise untrue forms of expression should be 
carefully guarded against or corrected. This may, in 



LANGUAGE LESSONS. 221 

time, become a matter of moral training, whereas it is 
at present only an exercise in language. Exaggeration 
and all other forms of untruth convey error to the mind, 
and hence deceive. When these become habitual the 
individual's life is then tending strongly in the direction 
which makes the confirmed liar. Only the addition of 
malintent, the purpose to deceive, needs to be made, 
and the person finds himself already equipped with the 
ability to execute his purpose with vigor. 

3. Force and Beauty of Expression. Along with se- 
curing correct grammatical forms and clear, truthful 
expressions should come an increase in the force and 
beauty of language. This is not accomplished by having 
children recite and discuss the rules of rhetoric but by 
practice, just as correct grammatical forms must be 
made habitual, not by discussing grammatical rules, but 
by using in speech and writing the various truths of 
construction which are embodied in rules. 

It is conceded that one's style could more certainly be 
made both correct and beautiful if he were master of 
the laws of grammar and rhetoric. But the difficulty in 
the way is that each child is acquiring a style of expres- 
sion which may be both incorrect and ugly, while he is 
in that immature and imitative period of life which 
makes the comprehension of such laws impossible. If, 
then, we cannot hope to make his language fine through 
a mastery of the laws of style at the outset, we must 
look for some other means of preserving and developing 
a style throughout this period which will not vitiate the 
results of his future labors in composition, when the 
required maturity for the comprehension of laws is 



222 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

attained. This means we have at hand in the child's 
splendid capacity of imitation. 

In making use of this power, we should have the 
child commit and recite many suitable poems from the 
best writers. If entire poems are not used, let each 
extract be large enough to embody a well-rounded 
thought. See to it that the child grasps the truth, and 
then have him employ the author's superior language in 
which to clothe it. At least half a dozen such poems, 
selected with especial reference to their fitness for the 
grade in which they are used, should be committed each 
year. In time most of these may be forgotten, or at 
least remembered only in fragments, but their style of 
expression will have passed into the child's common 
speech and then it is his. Thus he should be aided to 
reflect only the best. This exercise in committing and 
reciting should not be confined to poetry ; it should em- 
brace the forceful, elegant prose as well. 

In conjunction with such recitation of committed 
parts should come also wide and varied reading, as well 
as much productive work in speaking and writing. At 
all stages of the work there should be more of impres- 
sion from exalted sources than of expression from the 
child. But if ease and grace of language is to be ac- 
quired it must be through some expression in all the 
grades. Neither will it suffice to have only the oral or 
the written expression. The learner needs both. Other- 
wise it is possible for him to become quite fluent in 
speech, but labored and unmusical in the slower act of 
writing ; or he may find speech a forced and difficult art, 
while writing done in the quiet of his study may be easy 



LANGUAGE LESSONS. 223 

and graceful. For harmony of development and the 
full force and beauty of expression he needs smoothness 
and elegance in both forms of expression. 

Set of Graduated Exercises. 

The work in language should generally be pursued, 
throughout at least the first five or six years of school 
life, in connection with the following aids ; and they 
should be used in the order named : (i) objects from 
nature, for work in observation ; (2) pictures, for both 
descriptive and imaginative work ; (3) stories, for repro- 
duction, and later, for original work ; (4) special language 
forms, such as letters (both friendly and formal as in 
society or business), business papers, and advertisements. 
Formal essays, orations, verses, etc., should not be un- 
dertaken until the child has a well-arranged stock of 
both ideas and language, secured through such means 
as are indicated above. 

1. There should be many exercises, both oral and 
written, in describing common objects. At first these 
recitations should be largely conversational ; later they 
may become more formal, and the child be required 
to proceed without the aid of the teacher. 

2. Inanimate objects, animals, and plants may be 
described from memory. This may be done subject to 
leading questions from the teacher, or without aid. 

3. Pictures may be used for descriptive work, and 
later, as the basis of a story. The characters pictured 
may be made to speak and act, and the entire scene be 
clothed with life and energy. 

4. Stories related by the teacher without the help of 



224 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

material aids, such as objects or pictures, may be repro- 
duced by the children. Let this reproduction be both 
oral and written. To insure success at this point, and 
in many other places in primary teaching, the teacher 
should cultivate the power to tell a story well. Do not 
forget that details, uninteresting to the adult mind, are 
of vital moment to the child. 

5 . Stories may be prepared and given by the children, 
first subject to brief guides and outlines furnished by the 
teacher, and later without help. 

6. Simple letters, with especial emphasis upon the 
recognized necessary parts, should be taught. In these, 
only one difficulty at a time should be encountered. The 
child may tell about his work in class, his play at school, 
or any other matter about which his mind is filled. At 
this time the thought should not be so difficult as 
to bother him ; we are anxious now about a form of 
expression. 

7. The various business papers (notes, drafts, checks, 
orders, receipts, etc.) should be written as they are 
studied in the arithmetic class or elsewhere. These 
should be copied at first from correct printed forms, but 
later they should be written in their entirety without 
reference to any form as an aid. 

8. Exercises in paraphrase, amplification, and conden- 
sation should frequently be given. All of these test the 
thought power, and require a constant striving after new 
arrangements of words. Much aid will be given if the 
child's reading is directed to such authors as are eminent 
in any of the above respects. For these exercises well- 
chosen selections should be used, but they should not be 



LANGUAGE LESSONS. 225 

the masterpieces of literature. This work is done largely 
for the purpose of strengthening the child's power of 
thought through the process of interpretation, and then 
incidentally to serve as an exercise in expression. Lit- 
erary masterpieces should generally be held intact, be- 
cause their worth lies, not in the peculiar truth which 
they express, but in the striking fitness of the words 
and their arrangement. 

9. Formal essays, narratives, sketches, orations, and 
verses should not be required until the child has a well- 
stored mind and a well-ordered vocabulary and style of 
expression. Then he should be made to understand 
clearly that he is to write ivJiat Jie knozus, not what will 
necessarily contribute something new to the world's fund 
of information. At first each of these forms of original 
production should be prepared subject to an outline, 
given by the teacher to serve as a guide to the number 
and order of parts ; later, the outline may be replaced by 
general directions ; then, as the highest in point of diffi- 
culty, the child alone should produce a finished article, 
including choice of subject, plan, discussion, and rhe- 
torical finish. 



226 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER XV. 
ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 

Much confusion concerning the nature and purpose of 
English grammar has filled the minds of students of this 
subject in the past. Doubtless this has arisen partly 
trom the identification of the subject with so many 
others, in the days of the early grammarians, when sub- 
jects were less differentiated than they are now ; partly 
from our bondage to the past, as evidenced by the 
ancient definitions of grammar, which have been mod- 
ernized ; partly from the confusion of the terms '' art " and 
"science," due to the changing meanings as they have 
come down to us from the classical languages ; and 
partly from the general willingness to accept the state- 
ments of a book as final, thus relieving ourselves from 
the burdensome necessity of thinking. 

In the first school grammar of which we have any 
definite knowledge (the Greek grammar of Dionysius 
Thrax, of Alexandria, written about 80 B.C. and trans- 
lated by Thos. Davidson), this statement may be found : 
'' Grammar is an experimental knowledge of the usages 
of language as generally current among poets and prose 
writers. It is divided into six parts: (i) Trained read- 
ing, with due regard to prosody (that is, aspiration, 
accentuation, quantity, and sometimes pauses) ; (2) ex- 
planation according to poetical figures (literary criticism) ; 
(3) ready statement of dialectical peculiarities and allu- 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 22/ 

sions (philology, geography, history, mythology) ; (4) dis- 
covery of etymologies; (5) accurate account of analogies 
(what we generally mean by grammar) ; (6) criticism 
of poetical productions, which is the noblest part of 
the grammatic art (ethics, politics, strategy, etc., but not 
a discussion of the poetical merits of a piece)." 

Thus it is seen that in the ancient days the term 
'^ grammar" was made to embrace a very large propor- 
tion of the subjects which form an entire modern 
curriculum of studies. 

Passing over the long list of writers of grammatical 
text-books during the days of the early church and the 
middle ages (books written in Latin down to the time of 
Lilly's Grammar, which was written partly in Latin and 
partly in English), we note next the first independent 
" Grammar of the English Language," written by Lind- 
ley Murray, a native of Pennsylvania. In this book, which 
retained its popularity till the days of Goold Brown's 
"Grammar of English Grammars," we find the following 
definition : *' English grammar is the art of speaking 
and writing the English language with propriety." The 
influence of Lindley Murray has been so marked that 
his definition has stood as the model for practically all 
of the grammarians of the nineteenth century, until we 
reach those whose books are now pushing to the front. 

The confusion of art and science, as these terms are 
applied to English grammar, is nowhere better shown 
than in the book which, next to Murray's, was the most 
influential book on English grammar in the first half of 
the present century, — ''English Grammar in Familiar 
Lectures," by Samuel Kirkham. On one page he 



228 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

defines grammar as the science of language, and on the 
next he follows Murray in speaking of English grammar 
as the art of speaking and writing the English language 
with propriety. Not only is such confusion apparent 
throughout much of the work, but, in the endeavor to 
make an English grammar after the model of the Latin, 
he devotes much space to the discussion of controverted 
points which are in reality quite unimportant. On page 
41 of the 36th edition we find the following : " Now five 
grains of common sense will enable anyone to compre- 
hend what is meant by case. Its real character is 
extremely simple ; but in the different grammars it 
assumes as many meanings as Proteus had shapes. 
The most that has been written on it, however, is mere 
verbiage. What, then, is meant by case ? In speaking 
of a horse, for instance, we say he is in a good case when 
he is fat, and in a bad case when he is lean, and needs 
more oats ; and in this sense we apply the term case to 
denote the state or condition of the horse. So when we 
place a noun before a verb as actor or subject, we say it 
is in the nominative case ; but when it follows a transi- 
tive verb or preposition, we say it has another case ; that 
is, it assumes a new position or situation in the sentence ; 
and this we call the objective case." Unfortunately for 
this simple ( } ) treatment of case with nouns, the author 
has forgotten the subject of a passive verb, which does 
not represent an actor, and he might have done well 
if he had weighed carefully the statement of Bishop 
Lowth, made as early as 1762, with regard to the Eng- 
lish language, — ''Its substantives have but one varia 
tion of case." 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



229 



The outlook is bright for correcting the disorders in 
the study and teaching of grammar, which arise from 
the three causes, illustrated by reference to the above 
eminent, ancient authorities. Their works are being 
superseded by later and better ones. But the troubles 
which arise from the fourth cause — the thoughtlessness 
of many who teach the subject — are more difficult to cor- 
rect. It seems that the only possible alternatives are, 
either to annihilate all the erroneous writings on gram- 
mar, and then permit such teachers to absorb unques- 
tioningly all there is left, or to render the teachers more 
critical, and to help them more fully to rationalize their 
work by aiding them to master the philosophy of the 
subjects they teach. The first is a practical impossibil- 
ity ; it is to the second, therefore, that we shall address 
ourselves. 

Purpose. 

Only two conflicting theories have been held concern- 
ing the purpose which English grammar is meant to 
fulfill. One is that it is an art, meant to improve the 
learner's use of language ; the other is that it is a science, 
meant to give to the learner a comprehension of the 
structure of the language. 

We have already insisted (Chapter XIV) that the im- 
provement of the child's use of language belongs prima- 
rily to the language lesson ; that this is brought about 
by an appeal to his power of imitation ; and that these 
habits should be very largely fixed before the child begins 
the study of formal grammar (which should not be 
before the seventh or eighth school year). Now we 



230 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

insist that the function of English grammar is entirely 
different from this ; that its aim is to develop mental 
power, and to give one an independent mastery of the 
structure of a great language system. If such study 
does incidentally improve the child's use of language, 
well and good ; so will a thoughtful study of history, 
reading, arithmetic, etc., though no one would argue 
from this that they are taught for the purpose of pro- 
ducing that end. It is admitted that the study of 
grammar may do more toward improving one's speech 
than the study of the other subjects named ; but even 
this does not alter the claim that it should be studied 
for a different purpose, and that its nature is such as to 
render it absolutely unfitted to produce the practical 
result of language improvement. 

Upon this point let us have the authorities speak. In 
his preface to '' Essentials of English Grammar," William 
Dwight Whitney says : — 

" That the leading object of the study of English grammar is 
to teach the correct use of English is, in my view, an error, and 
one which is gradually becoming removed, giving way to the 
sounder opinion that grammar is the reflective study of language, 
for a variety of purposes, of which correctness in writing is only 
one, and a secondary or subordinate one — by no means unimpor- 
tant, but best attained when sought indirectly. It should be a 
pervading element in the whole school and home training of the 
young to make them use their own tongue with accuracy and 
force ; and, along with any special drilling directed to this end 
some of the rudimentary distinctions and rules of grammar are 
conveniently taught ; but that is not the study of grammar, and it 
will not bear the intrusion of much formal grammar without being 
spoiled for its own ends. It is constant use and practice, under 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 23 I 

never-failing watch and correction, that makes good writers and 
speakers ; the application of direct authority is the most efficient 
corrective. Grammar has its part to contribute, but rather in the 
higher than in the lower stages of the work. One must be a 
somewhat reflective user of language to amend even here and 
there a point by grammatical reasons ; and no one ever changed 
from a bad speaker to a good one by applying the rules of gram- 
mar to what he said. To teach English grammar to an English 
speaker is, as it seems to me, to take advantage of the fact that 
the pupil knows the facts of the language, in order to turn his at- 
tention to the underlying principles and relations, to the philosophy 
of language as illustrated in his own use of it, in a more effective 
manner than is otherwise possible." 

In his preface to '* Advanced Lessons in English 
Grammar," William H. Maxwell quotes from John 
Stuart Mill the following : — 

" Consider for a moment what grammar is. It is the most 
elementary part of logic. It is the beginning of the analysis 
of the thinking process. The principles and rules of grammar 
are the means by which the forms of language are made to corre- 
spond with the universal forms of thought. The distinctions be- 
tween the various parts of speech, between the cases of nouns, 
the moods and tenses of verbs, the functions of participles, are 
distinctions in thought, not merely in words. Single nouns and 
verbs express objects and events, many of which can be cognized 
by the senses ; but the modes of putting nouns and verbs together, 
express the relations of objects and events, which can be cognized 
only by the intellect (or thought) ; and each different mode corre- 
sponds to a different relation. The structure of every sentence is 
a lesson in logic." 

On pages 238-240 of his "Lectures on Teaching" 
Mr. J. G. Fitch writes : — 



232 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

" No doubt there is a sense, and a very true sense, in which all 
careful investigation into the structure of words and their relations 
gives precision to speech. But this is an indirect process. The 
direct operation and use of grammar rules in improving our speech 
and making it correct, can hardly be said to exist at all. ... If 
therefore, we have in view mainly the practical art of using the 
language in speech or writing with good taste and correctness, 
this particular result is probably best to be attained by talking to 
the pupil, by taking care he hears little but good English, by cor- 
recting him when he is wrong, by making him read the best 
authors, by practising him much in writing, and when he makes a 
mistake, by requiring him to write the sentence again without 
one. It will certainly not be attained by setting him to learn 
Murray's, or indeed any other grammar. ... If, however, that 
purpose (the practical) is contemplated as the first which is to be 
served in teaching (grammar), we not only shall not attain it, but 
we shall fail altogether to achieve the much higher ends which 
may be reached by the teaching of grammar as a science." 

It seems to be evident, then, from the writings of such 
eminent authorities as those given above, that the pur- 
pose of studying English grammar is, not the develop- 
ment of habits, as in the language lesson and later in 
formal composition, but the disciplining of the povi^ers of 
thought ; not training to the right use of the English 
language, but the comprehension of the' structure of the 
language. 

If this is a correct view, then it follows that in gram- 
mar nothing is to be accepted on the mere authority of 
the teacher or from the models of writers ; the appeal 
must not be made to the child's power of imitation, but 
in our teaching we must address ourselves to the child's 
understanding. Whatever is not comprehended must 
not be accepted as final. The memory should not be 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. ^33 

taxed to hold expressions from either the teacher or the 
text-book, until the truth of such expressions has been 
grasped by the thought. If the study of grammar is an 
exercise in elementary logic, then the methods fitted to 
the logic class should characterize our teaching of it. 
Opinions may be entertained and questioned, discussions 
engaged in, relations of parts to each other sought out, 
— in a word, every proper thing may be done which will 
aid in revealing to the child the general philosophy 
involved in the construction of the language. But this 
is not the place to present to the child arbitrary models 
for practice, nor to exercise him in the employment of 
recognized forms of good usage to the end that they may 
become habitual. This belongs no more to the grammar 
class than it does to every school exercise in which lan- 
guage is used. Speaking of this matter. Prof. John 
Mulligan says, in the preface to his '' Exposition of the 
Grammatical Structure of the English Language, " that 

" the importance of a thorough reformation of the method of 
teaching grammar to the general intellectual progress of the age, 
can scarcely be overestimated. We may form some notion of 
this importance if we reflect that this science not only lays (or, 
at least, should lay) the foundation of all sound logic and all true 
eloquence — has the closest connection with correct thinking as 
well as with the correct transmission of the products of thought 
from mind to mind — but serves as a natural and indispensable 
introduction to our courses of intellectual training, and the first 
step in a philosophical education." 

Method. 

If the view expressed above respecting the nature 
and function of English grammar is correct, then it fol- 



234 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

lows that the things for us to study are thought relations 
and the consequent relations of the words which are 
used to express the thought. If so much is conceded, 
then it follows further that the only language element 
which expresses a thought — the sentence — must be 
taken as the unit of study. Isolated words cannot be 
treated grammatically, it matters not whether we are 
considering the parsing of each word individually (con- 
sidering the words as parts of speech) or the analysis of 
an entire sentence (considering the words as the logical 
elements of the sentence). Any such matter as "list of 
prepositions," ''list of irregular verbs," etc., must be 
ruled out as being irrational. Every word in the English 
language may, if used properly, serve as a substantive ; 
that is, have the force of a noun. It may be well to 
call attention to the lists of words which are generally 
used as prepositions, or as some other part of speech, 
but they should not be called prepositions until they be- 
come such by being used in a certain manner in a sen- 
tence. Finally, if the position taken in the chapter on 
The Actual Realities in School Subjects is tenable, then 
we must conclude that the study of English grammar 
should be based upon language itself and not upon a set 
of definitions about the language. Definitions must be 
studied, but it should be only as a means of crystallizing 
what has been found in studying the language which 
contains examples of the items to be defined. In his 
" Lectures on Language and Linguistic Method in the 
Schools" (p. 73), Professor Laurie says: — 

" To be of any utility, either as a discipline, or as training, or 
as knowledge, grammar and rhetoric have to be studied through 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 235 

examples. Grammar has to be studied in and through sentences, 
and to be extracted from sentences by the pupil, if it is to be really 
taught ; and so also rhetoric has to be studied in and through the 
masterpieces of literature, and extracted from them, if it is to be 
really taught." 

Our first formal study of English grammar must con- 
sist, then, in determining the nature of the groups of 
words which form sentences ; this settled, the essential 
parts of the sentence should claim attention ; next, the 
individual words which comprise these parts should be 
considered as parts of speech. The detailed study of 
the logical value of each zvord in the sentence should be 
postponed until the more critical work of exhaustive 
analysis is begun. 

Many writers advise that we begin the work with 
words, pointing out through their meanings the various 
parts of speech, and then combine these to form the 
sentence. They base this recommendation upon the 
claims (i) that the child begins to speak by using indi- 
vidual words, and that later he employs full sentences ; 
(2) that it is procedure from the particular to the 
general. Each of these arguments is denied any weight 
in this connection, the first because it is valueless, and 
the second because it is untrue. 

We may grant that the child, in learning to speak, 
begins by using a word to express a full thought ; but it 
must be remembered that when he learns to speak he is 
an infant, and also that when he uses a word to express 
a full thought he is employing an imperfect instrument. 
When we begin to teach grammar we have the child in 
a more developed state, — thought power is developed, 



236 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

practical language, both in speech and writing, is mastered, 
and a large fund of varied ideas is possessed. 

It seems entirely without point then to argue that, 
because an infant proceeded in a certain manner in his 
development, we should follow the same order of proce- 
dure with a being as much developed as the average 
child is when it is right for him to begin to study gram- 
mar. As well might we argue that each individual, 
founding a home for himself in this present age, should 
model it after the homes of the barbarous nations of 
antiquity (the infants of the race), and gradually evolve 
from that a modern home suited to his present advance- 
ment, thus ignoring all that he has inherited from the 
progress of the race. 

Neither is there any sufficient reason for using an im- 
perfect instrument of expression as the basis of our study 
of grammar when we have a perfect one at hand. It 
is thought that we are to analyze, and this thought can 
be interpreted only through its expression. If we take 
an imperfect expression, the thought which we are called 
upon to analyze must be correspondingly imperfect, 
unless perchance we may complete it by a happy guess. 
Attention may be directed to the words in their isolation, 
their history may be studied, and, by supplying in thought 
what is not brought forth in expression (the meaning), 
we may even classify words under the headings known 
as parts of speech. But it is only when words are in 
relation to each other that they constitute a language ; 
and, if we are to study the structure of the language, 
we must have the language before us for study. Isolated 
words are the materials out of which a language may 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 237 

be made, but they do not furnish the finished structure. 

The second reason for the synthetic mode of proce- 
dure in grammar is regarded as baseless because it is 
untrue. A sentence is not a generahzation developed 
out of a study of words. It is only a larger individual 
thing made up of pieces which are the words. A word 
that we may study is a single thing ; likewise a sentence 
that we may study is a single thing. If we study a 
word, not in itself, but as a type of its class, we may 
reach a generalized truth, but it will be about words ; 
likewise, if we study a sentence, not in itself, but as a 
type of its kind, we may reach a generalization, but it 
will be about sentences. We do not proceed from the 
particular to the general when we study words first and 
sentences afterwards. We proceed only to more complex 
particulars ; each one is this sentence or tJiat sentence, 
but not sentence in general. Neither is a study of the 
sentence a study respecting words in general, nor yet of 
any class of words. It is merely certain individual words 
(pieces) and tJicir relations to each otJier. 

Analysis. The charge is frequently made by teachers 
of higher English that pupils can often diagram a sen- 
tence correctly but they cannot tell what it means. If 
this is so, then it is highly probable that, in the earlier 
study of English, pupils have ''gone through " a course 
in oral grammatical analysis Which has been made purely 
formal and mechanical, or else they have neglected even 
the form of oral analysis and have devoted their strength 
to guessing how to arrange lines in a symmetrical form 
and to write the words of a sentence upon them — per- 
functory diagramming. 



23^ SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

It is conceded that the usual form of grammatical 
analysis, if it is done thoughtfully, has great value for 
mental discipline as well as for revealing the significance 
of language. It is also conceded that the written dia- 
gram, so much abused in many sections, may have great 
value if used with discretion. It must not be regarded 
as a substitute for analysis, as many pupils view it, but 
as 2^ form of analysis. It is simply a scheme of short- 
hand for the purpose of picturing the relations of the 
parts of a thought, and for indicating in a few min- 
utes what it would take hours to write in the language 
usually employed in oral analysis. When a pupil de- 
clares that he can diagram a sentence but that he can- 
not analyze it, the mistake lies in his incorrect use of 
the word, analyze. To him the term " analyze " means to 
say, as he has heard others say, all that he knows about 
the relations of the several words of a sentence. This 
he is unable to do, because he does not remember what 
he thinks is the necessary order in which others have 
said the different things, and because he has forgotten 
some of the technical terms which they use. But, if he 
can think the relations of the several parts, so as to 
make his diagramming anything but happy guessing, he 
thereby does the analyzing, and the diagram is only the 
written form of such analysis. 

Hence no objection will be raised in these pages 
against the usual forms of grammatical analysis (includ- 
ing diagramming), and they are even recommended. Not 
only so, but the very earliest grammatical treatment of 
the sentence should be a process of analysis in which the 
larger elements (subject and predicate) are pointed out, 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



239 



and this should be followed by a study of the connect- 
ing and modifying elements. When these parts are 
learned in their relation to each other, the more exhaus- 
tive study of individual words (parsing) should be begun. 
But while these are recommended, they will not be fur- 
ther discussed here, because every teacher of grammar 
is expected to know them, or can learn them from text- 
books on the subject. 

It is to another form of analysis, the analysis of 
meaning rather than of expression, that attention will 
be directed here. The aim is to direct the learner's 
mind to ideas rather than to terms, and for this purpose 
the teacher should use language which will keep his 
attention upon the thought, and not merely upon its 
expression. Just as it is more rational for the student 
of grammar to analyze language itself, and thus reach 
the definitions about language, rather than to study the 
definitions first and then test them in language ; so it 
is best, for his mastery of the subject and for his men- 
tal discipline, to have his attention directed first to the 
significance, and afterwards to the sign, in language. 

I. Analysis of meaning in isolated sentences. If we 
take the sentence, " The bright flowers of the morning- 
glory climbed over the garden wall," we may illustrate 
this method of analysis by the use of the following 
questions : 

" What is here talked about .? " '' The bright flowers 
of the morning-glory." 

" What is said concerning them } " '' They climbed 
over the garden wall." 

Now, since this subject idea (the idea that is being 



240 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGV. 

thought or talked about) is complex, it may be further 
analyzed. 

" In a single word tell what is talked about." 
'' Flowers." "What kind of flowers.?" ''The bright 
ones." ''All bright ones.?" ''No, only those of the 
morning-glory." 

Similarly we may treat the predicate idea. " What is 
it that these flowers did .? " "Climbed." " Where did 
they climb } " " Over the garden wall." 

By such a method of analysis teachers may not be 
able to get the class to "dispose of " many sentences at 
a recitation, but they cannot easily fail to get them to 
understand the meanings of sentences better than they 
usually do. Besides, since this process calls the child's 
attention to the thought itself and to the relations of the 
several parts of the thought to each other, it cannot well 
help increasing his reasoning power. 

If suitable sentences are selected, it may readily be 
shown that all our thoughts (the meanings which are 
expressed by declarative sentences) are analyzable into 
the following ideas : — 

Subject ideas, predicate ideas, modifying ideas, con- 
necting ideas. 

When the learner is directed, in his study, to the 
analysis of the language rather than of the meaning 
alone which is presented to him, he will find that to 
these different ideas there corresponds the usual gram- 
matical terms. For subject idea there will be substi- 
tuted the subject words of the sentence, or simply 'Uhe 
subject." For predicate idea there will be substituted 
"the predicate." This will be found at times to consist 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 24 1 

of a verb only ; at other times it will be seen to be com- 
plex, composed of either a predicate adjective or a 
predicate noun (either one or many words), together 
with a copula (usually some form of the verb '' be " which 
simply couples together two words in the relation of a 
subject and a predicate). Modifying ideas will be found 
to correspond to the words which modify either the sub- 
ject, the predicate, or some other modifier, and are called 
" modifiers." Connecting ideas will give way to some one 
of the terms, " connective," *' relation word," or ** copula." 

It is evident that any method of grammatical analy- 
sis which is rationally done must take into account 
these thought elements, for the words get their gram- 
matical relations to each other only by virtue of their 
related meanings. But it seems equally true that the 
stereotyped processes, observable in many grammar 
classes, do nothing to require the directing of the 
learner's thought to anything beyond words. The merit 
that is claimed for the above mode of procedure lies in 
the fact that it makes the language itself, with its signifi- 
cance, the subject of study, for it may precede the 
learning of any formal definitions from a text-book 
in grammar ; or, if it is done after the definitions are 
known, it still directs the learner's thought to the 
reality in grammar and away from the text-book state- 
ments about such reality. 

If thorough drill is given in such a form of analysis, 
it will be found that the learner cannot turn to the 
usual processes and terms of grammatical analysis zvi^/i- 
out having tJiem become significant at once and for all 
time. When such emphasis as this is not placed upon 



242 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

sentence meanings, we run the same risk of having the 
learner's grammatical analysis become mechanical and 
devoid of thought that we do in the process of 
committing and reciting the multiplication table when 
its meaning has not first been presented. Whoever is 
taught to commit tables of results, formulas, or defini- 
tions in the old memoriter fashion, does it at the expense 
of his mental development ; while, to the one who has 
had the significance of these things first presented, the 
committing of the excellent form in which they are ex- 
pressed becomes both an intelligent act and a great aid. 
2. Comparative study of related sentences. If the 
study of grammar is to fulfill its mission as a means of 
giving the learner a mastery of the structure of lan- 
guage, and of equipping him to interpret language, then 
there is one other form of study to which attention must 
be given. Thought as expressed in language is usually 
continuous. The sentences employed express 7'elated 
truths. The meaning of the sentence may be grasped, 
while the relation of its meaning to that of another may 
not be at all understood. Provision should therefore be 
made to educate children in this most important part of 
the mastery of language, and the grammar class should 
afford an especial opportunity for such training. Even 
when the analysis of sentences follows the plan usually 
observed by teachers, the sentences should be related 
ones. In ''How to Parse," Rev. Edwin A. Abbott 
says : — 

" A pupil cannot be regarded as thoroughly tested in his knowl- 
edge of grammatical rules till he has applied them to connected 
narrative. As long as he is tested in nothing but short sentences, 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 243 

you can never feel sure that his accuracy is not merely mechan- 
ical." 

But in addition to this, the vakie of comparative study 
will be further enhanced by observing the recommen- 
dations which follow. 

The teacher who has even a slight acquaintance with 
the elements of deductive logic, will understand the work 
that is here recommended. For those who do not pos- 
sess such knowledge, a brief treatment with a few illus- 
trations will reveal what is intended. It has already 
been pointed out (p. 58) that all the regular forms of 
declarative sentences are reducible to four classes, illus- 
trated by the following sentences, and called by the 
names of the letters which accompany them : — 

(A) All knowledge is useful. 

(E) No knowledge is useful. 

(/) Some knowledge is useful. 

(O) Some knowledge is not useful. 

The distinctive character of these sentences does not 
lie in the information which they convey, but in the form 
of the sentence. The words in them which are espe- 
cially important for the purpose of a comparative study 
are : — 

(A) All is (or, are) . . . 

(E) No (none) . is (or, are) . . . 

(/) Some .... is (or, are) . . . 

(O) Some .... is not (or, are not) . . . 

Examination will reveal the fact that in A and E the 
term which forms the subject (in this case, knowledge) 



244 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

is considered in its entirety, or is distributed. The 
whole of the subject idea is spoken of in the proposi- 
tions. In / and O, the term which forms the subject is 
considered only in part. In the above sentences, this 
fact is revealed by the use of the word '' some." Any 
other word which signifies 'Mess than all," will serve as 
well as the word ''some." Frequently there will be no 
modifying word in the subject of the sentence by means 
of which the learner can tell whether the meaning is 
" some " or " all " of the subject, as, " The Chinese are 
industrious." Under such conditions it is necessary to 
decide from the meaning alone, whether the subject is 
distributed or undistributed. 

In the four typical sentences (A, £, /, O), the ones 
which distribute their subjects (A and E) are called //;//- 
versa/ propositions . The ones which do not distribute 
their subjects (/ and O) are called particular propositions . 

Examining the predicates of the four propositions, we 
find that two of them (A and /) are affirmative and two 
{E and O) are negative. 

When the assertion is made that all knowledge is use- 
ful, there is clearly nothing in that to exclude other 
things from being useful at the same time. So also 
with the other affirmative proposition, some knowledge 
is useful. In neither case do we refer to all that is 
included in the meaning of the predicate term. This 
being so, the predicates of affirmative propositions {A 
and /) are said to be undistributed. But in the state- 
ment. No knowledge is useful, I find that, if examination 
is made of the entire circle of useful things, knowledge 
will nowhere be found in it. Since examination must 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



245 



thus be made of the entire meaning of the term before 
we can assert that no knowledge is useful, we see that 
the predicate of E is distributed. Similarly the subject 
term of O ("knowledge," as limited by "some " — some 
knowledge) is excluded from the entire predicate, useful. 
In this case also the predicate is said to be distributed, 
since it must be examined in its entirety in order to 
establish the claim that "some knowledge" is not in- 
cluded in any part of " useful (things)." 

Summing up our examination of both the subjects and 
the predicates of the four propositions, we may state the 
results in the following form : — 



LETTER 
NAME. 


KIND. 


SUBJECT. 


PREDICATE. 


PROPOSITIONS 


Universal Affirmative. 
Universal Negative. 
Particular Affirmative. 
Particular Negative. 


Distributed. 
Distributed. 
Undistributed. 
Undistributed. 


Undistributed. 
Distributed. 
Undistributed. 
Distributed. 



This brief introduction to the nature of the pure forms 
of logical propositions is made in order that we may 
reveal to the learner one of the problems for him to 
solve in this comparative study of sentences. It is very 
evident that when I make a truthful assertion respecting 
all of a given class (when the individuals are not con- 
sidered in their collective capacity), my statement is also 
true of some (any number less than all) of that class ; on 
the other hand, if I make a true statement respecting 
a part of a class, such assertion may or may not be true, 
if made of the entire class. This then is our problem ; 



246 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

If A is true, what of the truth of the other three 
{E, /, 6>)? 

If E is true, what of the truth of the other three 
{A, I, 0)1 

If / is true, what of the truth of the other three 
{A, E, O) ? 

If O is true, what of the truth of the other three 
{A, E, I) ? 

If A is false, what of the truth of the other three 
{E,I, 0)> 

If E is false, what of the truth of the other three 
{A, /, O) ? 

If / is false, what of the truth of the other three 
{A,E,0)} 

If O is false, what of the truth of the other three 
{A, E, I) ? 

These relations should be illustrated and tested in 
many different sentences (always bearing in mind that 
the sentences to be compared must have in them the 
same subject terms and also the same predicate terms) ; 
they should then be impressed by frequent repetition, 
so that the learner can speak of the relative truths of 
A, E, I, and O without the necessity of thinking of them 
by aid of concrete sentences. Such an exercise will 
have almost unlimited value as an aid to the interpreta- 
tion of connected discourse. 

Another important line of comparative study of sen- 
tences is the following : — 

Given the sentence, ''All men are mortal." 

If this is true, it follows of necessity that — 

No men are immortal ; and that — 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 24/ 

Some mortals are men. 
Given — 

No men are perfect. (E) 

Some men are wise. (I) 

Some men are not wise. (O) 

Tell what truths follow by immediate inference from 
each of these. 

Still another exercise, which the teacher can vary at 
pleasure by using other thoughts as the base, will be 
given. 

Take the sentences — 



(2 



All wise men are just men. 
No just men are unwise. 
All unjust men are wise. 
All just men are wise. 
No wise men are unjust. 
No unwise men are just. 
No unwise men are unjust. 
No just men are wise. 
Some wise men are ju.st. 
Some unwise men are just. 
Some unwise men are unjust. 
Some wise men are unjust. 
No wise men are just. 
Some just men are unwise. 
Some just men are wise. 
All wise men are unjust. 
All unwise men are unjust. 
All unwise men are just. 
All just men are unwise. 
All unjust men are unwise, etc. 



248 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Tell — 

(a) The ones that can be inferred from (i). 

(b) The ones from which ( i ) can be inferred. 

(c) The ones that contradict (i). 

(d) The ones that do not contradict (i), but which 
cannot be inferred from (i). 

Besides the introduction of entirely different thoughts, 
we may take any one of the above sentences as the base 
of comparison, and may thus give an almost endless 
range to the work. 

Finally, we may call attention to some of the irreg- 
ularities and errors that have crept into our thought and 
expression. 

The sentence ''All men are not happy," which is a 
very common form of expression, is often interpreted to 
mean ''All men are unhappy," whereas it really means 
" Not all men are happy," or, " Some men are not 
happy" (O). 

In the sentence " Few men are both rich and gen- 
erous," we have an illustration of another form of ex- 
pression that is subject to ambiguity. It seems, from its 
form, to be (I), — "A few men," etc.; but what is 
intended is to impress the belief that " most men are 
not both rich and generous " (O). 

Even the word "some" is liable to misinterpretation. 
If we assert that "some men are happy," there are 
those who will instantly import into it two other ideas, 
and insist that our sentence gave warrant for both. 
They declare that we imply that "some men are not 
happy," and also that we deny that " all men are happy." 
They read it as somc^ but not alL It means some at leasts 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 249 

it may be all. About those not included in the word 
some, we make no assertion whatever, because we do 
not presume to know. 

All of this emphasizes the thought that we must con- 
stantly interpret sentences by reference to their context 
— a matter upon which it is impossible to place too 
strong emphasis. 

Parsing. It is not the ancient stereotyped method 
of parsing which is here recommended, but rather a 
method which follows naturally from the use we have 
thus far made of the sentence, and which simply 
extends the process of analysis which we have given to 
the sentence on down to the individual words that are in 
sentences. To parse a word is thus to give a complete 
account of it, as it stands in the sentence. The analy- 
sis of a sentence consists simply in setting forth the 
offices of the several words which enter into its construc- 
tion ; parsing includes this item of construction (or 
office) among the things to which attention is directed. 

In order, therefore, that parsing may not cause us to 
throw aside all the valuable product gained by analysis, 
we must see to it that the learner does not regard pars- 
ing as a totally new process performed upon words. A 
common error consists in regarding analysis as a method 
of disposing of sentences, and parsing as a method of 
disposing of words. From this it is an easy step to the 
next error of regarding parsing as a process performed 
upon isolated words. In truth it is simply an extension 
of the process of analysis into further details of the 
sentence; namely, the elements of the words which 
form the sentence. 



250 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

To accomplish all that is here implied, and to prevent 
the parsing exercises from becoming a thoughtless round 
of guesses and blunders, the following directions are 
given : — 

1. In a sentence to be parsed, the first thing to do is 
to point out the bare subject and the bare predicate. 
Then let these words, the subject first and the predi- 
cate afterwards, be parsed. 

2. In disposing of the rest of the words in the com- 
plete subject (and afterwards in the complete predicate), 
" A word qualified by any other is to be parsed before 
that other." This is particularly valuable because it 
emphasizes, through the order of procedure, the relations 
of the thought elements in the sentence. 

Illiistratioii — My brother's friend laid the package in 
William's room. In this sentence the words should be 
parsed in the following order : friend, brother's, my, 
laid, package, the, room, William's, in. By so doing the 
parsing exercise virtually keeps up all that was valuable 
in the earlier analysis. 

3. Having determined the best order in which to 
parse the words of a sentence, so that we may get from 
the exercise the most thorough mastery of the thought 
relations, we must consider next the treatment to be 
given the individual words. At the outset each word 
should be parsed fully ; that is, have every detail given 
about the word, zvitJi the reason for everything that is given. 

Illustration — Friend (taken from the sentence above) 
is a noun because it is the name of a person ; a common 
noun because it applies to each of the individuals of a 
class ; it is not a gender noun because it does not imply 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 2$ I 

a distinction of sex ; it is a simple noun because it can- 
not be resolved into any English elements ; singular 
number because it means only one of its class (the in- 
flection is : friend, friend's, friends, friends') ; it is in the 
nominative case because it is the subject of the verb 
laid. 

4. After such exhaustive parsing has been kept up 
till pupils are accustomed to thinking the reasons for all 
the views they express, the work should be shortened. 
This may be done by omitting the reasons {excepting 
when pupils give evideiice of guessing^. Another brief 
form consists in stating only matters of importance, 
which are determined by the teacher's questions. 
Instead of repeating the entire round of number, per- 
son, gender, case, etc., when certain of them are very 
evident in the words that are being treated, only one, 
or a few, of the properties may be given attention. 

False Syntax. In the use of examples of false, or 
improper, syntax, the purpose is twofold : (i) we should 
use it as a means of testing and applying the child's 
knowledge of the laws of syntax, and (2) we should 
aim to make the learner conscious of the defects in 
his own speech. 

Many times when a law is stated and followed by an 
illustration, the illustration as a whole is remembered by 
the child, but the especial point of significance is missed. 
This error may be avoided either by having the learner 
supply an omission in the incomplete sentence which is 
offered (such omission requiring attention to the point 
at issue), or by having him correct a mistaken form which 
is presented, and give the reasons for the correction. 



252 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Again, it is often true that a child who can parse and 
analyze all ordinary sentences, and who can correct the 
examples of false syntax presented in his book, will yet 
violate in his speech many of the laws which he must 
know in order to do intelligent parsing, analyzing, or 
correcting. There seems to be no rational explanation 
for such a condition, excepting that he has become 
habituated to the use of certain incorrect forms, which 
he merely fails to test by the known rules, or else does 
not know that he uses them. Since he has become partial 
master of the laws of construction, the one thing need- 
ful is to force upon his notice his own forms of speech. 
At this stage of the work we have entered upon the 
field of practical composition. The only difference be- 
tween this work and that of our earlier language lessons 
is that now the learner can understand the reasons for 
the forms that are required of him and need no longer 
be given arbitrary models. If our work in false syntax 
is to fulfill its second mission, however, it must be accom- 
plished by employing the method of the language class 
(practice) ; and, in connection with this, we may accom- 
plish the first of our aims by assigning reasons for all 
the constructions that are allowed. 

As a rule it will be found unnecessary to manufacture 
false forms for the grammar class. Much can be accom- 
plished by having pupils supply ellipses ; and where this 
is not sufficient for the purpose, the expressions of the 
children and the community will supply all the types of 
error to which their attention should be called. 

An objection that is sometimes urged against the use 
of false syntax, is that one might as well present a case 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 253 

of false spelling with a view to having a child learn to 
spell correctly as to present false grammatical construc- 
tions with a view to having ,him thereby learn to make 
correct sentences. This objection seems unfounded, 
because in the case of spelling there usually is no reason 
why one form is correct and another form incorrect, 
while in syntax there always is a sufficient reason, and 
one which the child understands when he is prepared 
for the exercises in false syntax. However, since it is 
not our aim to find what mistaken combinations a child 
is able to correct, but rather to use actual language as a 
means of impressing upon him more surely the struc- 
ture of language, we recommend going to the school and 
the community for our examples, rather than manufac- 
turing them for the occasion. 

Historical Study of EnglisJi Grainmai\ Finally, 
nothing else can so completely round out a learner's 
knowledge of the structure of the English language as a 
historical study of the language. Besides enlarging his 
grasp of the subject, nothing else can so effectually fill 
the learner with the idea that grammar is a living, growing 
thing, and thus awaken his interest in it, which can never 
be aroused by the dull, monotonous sorting over dry 
bones in parsing, analysis, etc. It is the opinion of so 
eminent an authority as J. M. D. Meiklejohn that — 

" the study of English grammar is becoming every day more 
and more historical — and necessarily so. There are scores of 
inflections, usages, constructions, idioms, which cannot be truly or 
adequately explained without a reference to the past states of the 
language — to a time when it was a synthetic or inflected language, 
like German or Latin." 



254 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

It is not an aim of this work, however, to do more than 
recommend the plan to teachers and direct them to the 
sources of knowledge which they need. For the histori- 
cal method the following works should be consulted 
by the teacher : '' History of the English Language," 
by T. R. Lounsbury ; ''The English Langviage," by 
J. M. D. Meiklejohn ; '' The Philology of the English 
Tongue," by John Earle ; and '' Historical Outlines of 
English Accidence," by Morris. 

It is also strongly recommended that, no matter what 
text-book his classes use, the teacher should have for 
personal reference such works as " How to Parse," by 
E. A. Abbott ; '' Essentials of English Grammar," by 
William D wight Whitney ; and '* Grammatical Structure 
of the English Language," by John Mulligan. 



SPELLING. 255 



CHAPTER XVI. 
SPELLING. 



Spelling is a branch in the learning of which there 
is no set of mental movements to be considered. In- 
vestigation plays no important part in it and generaliza- 
tions are practically valueless. It is true that there are 
a few rules of spelling, and they may even be of value 
at times ; but the exceptions are so numerous and the 
rules themselves so little needed that they can scarcely 
be regarded as worth the effort it costs to learn them. 
The subject merely presents a large set of items which 
are to be impressed upon the learner's being. It is 
commonly said that spelhng presents words to be com- 
mitted to memory; but as this is usually understood, 
it seems to be unsatisfactory. To make spelling practi- 
cally valuable, one's writing arm must be so habituated 
to producing the words that, as soon as the word is 
thought, its execution will follow without minute direc- 
tion being given to the hand. 

But if spelling will not submit to the methodical treat- 
ment of other subjects, it is nevertheless very important. 
To be a good speller may not win for one any special 
mark of distinction, but to be a poor speller will often 
bring upon one the odium which attaches to ignorance. 
It is a subject which all who have had opportunities 
are expected to know, and which it is somewhat of a 
disgrace not to know. 



256 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

During the first two years of school life, the child's 
original learning of new words will take place almost 
exclusively in the recitation ; his seat work will be for 
the purpose of impressing more firmly what he has 
acquired. At the beginning of this period it will be 
found valuable to have all his spellmg done in full 
sentences. (Of course, no oral spelling will be under- 
taken until after the child has mastered the letter 
names in his reading class.) The advantages in teach- 
ing spelling by the use of full sentences are numerous. 
It keeps before the learner's mind all that he has 
learned in reading ; it prepares him immediately to 
write what he speaks ; and it makes the learning of 
spelling an intelligent and rapid process. 

After such work in the spelling class has been kept 
up until the child can spell correctly at least one hun- 
dred of the words he speaks and reads, isolated words 
may be taken These should be put into groups con- 
taining similar letter elements, just as the words are 
massed for phonic analysis in the reading class. Such 
a plan enables the teacher to call especial attention to 
the differences in similar words, and it makes a single 
learning of the similar parts serve for the mastery of 
many words. 

Illustration — at, cat, bat, sat, rat, fat, flat, hat, mat, 
vat. 

Later, when the unity of word forms is no longer 
necessary as an aid to learning, the words may be taken 
from the ordinary spelling book, though at all times the 
words one uses in speech should be the ones most care- 
fully attended to in spelling. 



SPELLING. 257 

When the child has advanced in his spelling to the 
point where he can study the lesson in preparation for 
the recitation, the teacher's work in the class will be 
confined to testing and stimulating him, and to dii'ect- 
ing him iit the proper methods of study. It is more 
thoroughly true of spelling than of any other branch in 
the curriculum that, if value is to come from the work 
at this stage, it must come from the child's method of 
study, and not from the recitation. However, it is 
possible to employ a method of testing which will not 
reveal the child's grasp of spelling at the times when he 
needs to spell, — while he is writing in connected dis- 
course. To guard against this error, much of the spell- 
ing should be done as dictation exercises. This will 
necessitate the use of the written method of recitation. 
When isolated words are given for spelling it makes but 
little difference whether the recitation is oral or written ; 
the way in which the child studies the lesson is the im- 
portant consideration. As a matter of expediency, the 
oral and written plans should both be used in the recita- 
tion, because greater variety and attractiveness can thus 
be given to the subject, and, as a consequence, the 
learner's interest in it be greatly stimulated. 

All words misspelled in the recitation should be kept 
for stated review. If this is not done, the value of the 
test is greatly reduced. Indeed, it seems to be almost 
a waste of time. The child needs his attention directed 
in a special manner to the words he cannot spell. If 
these are dropped when the lesson is ended, the proba- 
bility is they will not soon be learned. But if only 
these words are brought up for the stated review, this 



258 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

will direct the child's effort to the place where it is most 
needed. 

Plans for Studying Spelling. 

All the plans for studying spelling may be arranged 
in two groups, — those which impress form and those 
which impress sound. The process that is best for one 
child to employ in learning to spell may not be the 
process best suited to another child. If a learner is 
decidedly ear-minded, he can doubtless learn a spelling 
lesson best by saying it aloud ; if he is decidedly eye- 
minded, writing will be the best means of learning to 
spell. Accordingly the following plans are recom- 
mended : — 

1. Have children study the spelling lesson by thought- 
fully writing the words. This is better than simply 
looking at the words, even for an eye-minded child, 
because it makes use of his motor side as an aid in 
impressing the form. 

2. Have children say aloiid the names of the letters 
which form a word. To prevent the confusion which 
would result from the use of such a plan in the school- 
room, have children study the spelling lessons at home. 

3. Teach children to look over each new spelling 
lesson when they begin to study it, and to strike out the 
zvords they are sirre they can spell. This plan will save 
the child from wasting his energies, and it will enable 
him to repeat the unknown words more frequently, thus 
employing his energies where they will give the largest 
return. 

4. Whether a child studies the lesson by writing it or 



SPELLING. 259 

by saying it, impress upon him the importance of giving- 
his undivided attention to the work at hand. In the study 
of spelUng (a subject that appeals to the arbitrary 
memory) this direction is more important than in the 
study of a subject which appeals to the reason. In the 
latter, thought is the dominant activity, and the learner 
can recover himself when he finds that his mind is wan- 
dering. But in spelling, the repetition is liable to become 
purely mechanical, and the learner believes himself to 
be really studying, provided only that he is active. 
Mind wandering is to be deplored at all times, but it is 
peculiarly disastrous in the study of a subject which is to 
be impressed in its integrity upon the memory. 

5. Arrange the school programme so that the study 
of spelling shall not come at a time when the child is 
greatly wearied. If he studies at home, explain to him 
the unwisdom of endeavoring to study spelling (or any 
other arbitrary memory subject) when he is worn out 
with other study. Remember that the arbitrary mem- 
ory is the first faculty to feel the disastrous effects of 
excessive weariness. No study should be continued 
after the point of extreme fatigue is reached, and this is 
pecuharly true of anything that is addressed to the 
memory alone. 



26o SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
HISTORY. 

Of all the subjects in the curriculum none is better 
suited than history to arouse in the learner a natural and 
enthusiastic interest. Its portrayal of the doings of 
men, — their brave deeds, great achievements, heroic 
virtues, and lives of devotion to principle, — while some- 
times interrupted by the record of vice even in high 
places, is admirably adapted to awaken within the youth- 
ful mind the desire for a nobler life and for an intimate 
acquaintance with the great and the good of all ages. 
Yet, notwithstanding all these possibilities of the subject, 
it is often presented in such a manner as to fill the child 
with disgust for it, and to impress upon him the idea 
that it is simply a set of lifeless statements about imper- 
sonal events. This result must be due chiefly to the 
method of presentation, for there is nothing in the 
nature of the subject which would produce it, neither can 
it be accounted for by any lack of interest on the part 
of the child in the items of which history treats. Much 
can be done, therefore, to prevent such an outcome if 
teachers get their minds right with respect to the nature 
of the subject, the ends to be aimed at in its presenta- 
tion, and the consequent methods of teaching it. 

Since it is with man that the student of history is 
especially concerned,'' he should be prepared for such 
study by being made acquainted with men, at a time 



HISTORY. 261 

when he is not yet mature enough to understand the 
actions of communities. Accordingly, the years of school 
life which precede his introduction to formal history 
should furnish him many opportunities to learn biogra- 
phy and striking incidents not chronologically arranged. 
Since history is teeming with incidents '* stranger than 
fiction," there is perhaps no longing of the human heart 
which cannot be illustrated by incidents taken from its 
pages, and no thirst for the weird and wonderful that 
cannot be satisfied here as well as from the pages of 
fiction. This is not meant as a recommendation to dis- 
pense with the use of the purely imaginative in litera- 
ture, and to confine the child to the cold matter-of-fact ; 
but it is meant to remind teachers of the wonderful 
fertility of the field of history. 

For this early portion of school life, the biographies 
presented should deal largely with the youth of the 
characters studied, in order that we may arouse the 
learner's interest in their lives. The child, in his imma- 
turity and inexperience, can be interested in the exploits 
of children when, because of its meaninglessness, he will 
not be moved by a recital of the achievements of great 
men. Consequently the boyhood days of eminent men 
should be used as a means of leading the learner to un- 
derstand and appreciate their later developments in 
character and accomplishment. The boyhood days of 
Lincoln in his home of poverty and amidst his scenes of 
busy industry ; the tow-path experiences of Garfield ; 
the apprenticeship of Franklin in his brother's printing 
office and his later adventures in getting established in 
business ; the brave deeds of the boy Farragut, made a 



262 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

midshipman at the age of ten — all these, and many 
others, will reveal more of human character and of the 
possibilities of human life to the child than can ever be 
impressed by the study of what he finds recorded in the 
ordinary school history. The one common element run- 
ning through such lives, which has given to them their 
breadth and stability, is the element of persevering in- 
dustry, the struggle for self-improvement, which often 
caused them to sacrifice their meals by day and their 
rest by night. Such lives reveal the presence of an 
immense faith in human endeavor, for it is a notable fact 
that the majority of men who have become famous could 
say, as did Henry Clay, '' The only things I inherited 
were ignorance and indigence." 

Furthermore, the private deeds of men whose brilliant 
services adorn the pages of history will appeal more 
strongly to the young than their finest victories upon 
the field of battle or in the halls of legislation. King 
Alfred's experiences with the burning cakes a child can 
understand, when he will know nothing of treaty making 
or the expansion of empires. Washington's fair but ex- 
acting treatment of the miserly ferry passenger will 
reveal to children a trait in his character that was influ- 
ential in making him the wise councilor and efficient 
leader that he was ; Robert Bruce's experience with the 
persevering spider may serve to inflame many a young 
life with a holy zeal, when even an extended study of 
persistent industry or unswerving fortitude' in a domain 
foreign to the child's experience could have no apprecia- 
ble influence. Such things will reveal more truly the 
inner character of the man than will his public deeds ; 



HISTORY. 263 

and at this stage of the work a true insight into the 
character of men is of more vital moment to the child 
than a knowledge of their political achievements. 

When striking events are presented to the child at 
this stage of his advancement, they should be chosen 
with especial reference to his dominant interests. The 
language class, reading class, and all other opportunities 
for increasing the learner's store of general information, 
will furnish the occasions for awakening, directing, and 
stimulating his interests, and at the same time for im- 
pressing upon him the facts which will serve later to 
illumine the pages of history. The items referred to 
now are not single deeds which cluster about a name 
better known than the deeds themselves, but rather, 
events in the march of time which, in the minds of most 
men, stand out boldly, and often have no name of an 
actor associated with them. The invention of printing, 
of gunpowder, of the cotton gin ; the laying of the At- 
lantic cable, and the construction of the first telegraph 
hne ; the running of the first train of steam cars ; the 
building of the Mississippi River jetties, of the Brooklyn 
Bridge, of the Niagara suspension bridge; and many 
other less familiar, but no less interesting, ones will serve 
as illustrations. 

But though it is wise and important to present biog- 
raphy and scattered incident during the early school 
days, before the child is able to take the sterner study 
of history, we must not make the mistake of thinking 
that this is history. '' History is a methodical record of 
the important events which concern a community of men, 
usually so arranged as to show the connection of causes 



264 SV^STEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

and effects." It is a ''statement of the progress of a 
nation or an institution, with philosophical inquiries re- 
specting effects and causes !' 

These are two important items for every teacher of 
history to keep clearly before his mind — the commu- 
nity life of men, and the relations of the several historic 
events to each other. Man in society is a different 
creature from a man in isolation. His best physical, 
intellectual, or ethical development requires that he 
should live in touch with others. He is a social being, 
and as an individual he is no more the unit of study in 
history than a twig is the unit of study in trees. Each 
man is so dependent upon others that a single biography 
is but an element arbitrarily abstracted from the full 
current of history. All men are so bound together in 
their life of mutual dependence, that no one life can be 
understood unless it is studied as influenced by its envi- 
ronment. It is only as he is duly impressed with this 
important truth, that the learner will ever come to have 
any better conception of history than that it is a record 
of the deeds of a certain discoverer, king, general, or 
statesman. The really vital part in the world's progress, 
the advance of mankind, will entirely escape his notice 
because of the luster which attaches to a few of the 
leading lights along the way. 

Even when this item is clear to the minds of both 
teacher and pupil, the full significance of the historic 
record is not exhausted. It is further necessary that 
the various items should be seen in their proper setting. 
To this end, a simple chronological order, or record of 
events which conforms to the time order of their occur- 



HISTORY. 265 

rence as its distinctive feature, is not enough. Events 
must be so massed and presented as to bring out into 
bold relief their logical relations of cause and effect, 
interdependence, etc. 

This suggests the importance of making a clear distinc- 
tion between the two elements of historic study, — his- 
toric facts and the philosophy of history. Corresponding 
to this twofold division of the subject, we must note the 
two stages in the method of presentation, — that which 
offers items of historic fact (the individual notions of 
history) to be impressed upon the memory ; and that 
which strives to build up the great historic concepts, or 
general notions, which in their turn can serve as guides 
to an understanding of present and future social needs 
and of the requirements of national prosperity. This 
distinction must not be confused with that which was 
drawn between biography and scattered events of interest 
on the one hand, and history on the other. Such frag- 
mentary elements constitute only the introduction, and 
occasional side lights, to the great course of history 
proper. In that course, however, we must discriminate 
between the facts, which, when apprehended as facts, 
can be addressed only to the memory ; and the philosophy, 
which is addressed to the reason of the child and is 
made possible only upon a basis of solid facts. 

It is not to be thought that these two phases of his- 
toric study should be kept distinct in time and that one 
of them should be completed before the other is begun. 
The philosophic aspect is undoubtedly the goal to be 
aimed at, but the study of facts can never end so long 
as history continues to be made ; and questions of mo- 



266 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

tive, cause, importance, and other opinions should be 
asked in all stages of the work, provided only that they 
are kept within the child's range of mental development 
and historic information. 

It is important to remember, however, that when facts 
are being presented we must employ a method of teach- 
ing that is very different in its character from the method 
to be used when historic concepts are being developed. 
Furthermore, it is well to remember that the predomi- 
nating element to receive attention in the early part of 
the course is historic fact, and that this predominance 
only gradually grows proportionately less as we advance 
up the grades. The matter of first importance at all 
stages of the work is, that the child shall know ; then 
it is possible for him to indulge wisely in judgnie^its and 
opinions which become worthy of expression, because 
they are the outcome of a full mind. 

Historic Facts. 

The plan so prevalent in the schools, of learning his- 
toric facts in masses of five or six pages at a lesson, is 
positively pernicious. It is destructive of all unity, and 
it thereby overburdens the arbitrary memory and lessens 
the probability that the child will apprehend the relations 
of the facts to each other. Failing in this last, he must 
necessarily fail to comprehend and appreciate history. 
This plan is still further objectionable because, in addi- 
tion to offering the child a historic report which is with- 
out coherency, it is generally given to him from the very 
beginning of his study of history, thus impressing upon 
him the idea that the actual matter under consideration in 



HISTORY. 267 

this branch of study is that which is contained in a book. 
What we should aim at in teaching history is to impress 
the child with the idea that he is now learning about 
communities of men in action, and that he can understand 
these only as he sees them in their propei' relations to 
each other. The above plan of procedure fails in both of 
these particulars. 

To direct the learner's thought to the actual reality in 
history (the actions of society, or men, in relation to each 
other), we should use the events which are transpiring 
about him. The subject can thus be made of vital 
interest, if we will use the national celebrations in which 
the child actually participates, and, with these as a basis, 
discuss their meaning, what brought them about, what 
fixed their time, and all other matters which grow natu- 
rally out of them. In the same manner we can use the 
actual doings of the government as revealed in its post- 
offices, its mints, national and state elections, the courts, 
the newspaper reports of legislation, etc. 

The aim in all this is to prevent the child from start- 
ing upon the study of history with the mistaken impres- 
sion that it is a lot of statements to be found in a certain 
book ; or, if his error is not so glaring as that, to prevent 
him from thinking that it has to do only with the remote 
past, with things that are completed and whose effects 
are spent, and that it has no connection with the present. 

Having had his attention directed to the events in the 
midst of which he lives, and about which he can see 
that there clusters great interest for all earnest men, he 
will be prepared to use the book in history as the means 
of learning how the people of the past lived and acted, 



268 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

and thus brought about the present state of society of 
which he forms a part. Not only should the child's 
attention be called to national events as they transpire, 
for the purpose of introducing him to the study of history ; 
but at all stages of advancement in the work, his mind 
should be kept upon the actual reality of the subject by 
means of such events. 

As suggestive of the fertile field open to the teacher 
of history who employs such realities, we may mention, 
in addition to those already given, the following : presi- 
dential messages, tariff revisions, reprints of ancient 
manuscripts, such as the Declaration of Independence, 
various treaties, official letters, epoch-making speeches, 
court decisions, convention reports, or books. Such 
items should be introduced in their proper places, so that 
they may add to the bare report of the text-book all 
that is required to make it significant and intelligible. * 

With the learner's attention wisely directed to the 
realities of history, our next problem is to determine 
how we can present historic items so that their proper re- 
lations may be apprehended and they may be understood. 
It seems clear that in history, as elsewhere, if the learner 
is to deal with the relations of things, the things must be 
presented to him in relations. This can be done by pre- 
senting historic items in complete epochs and having 
these analyzed. Individual facts can thus be viewed in 
the light of the larger enterprises of which they form the 
parts. Only by giving to the child such an outlook as 
this can we hope to have him rationally organize his 
items of information. Disorganization among the items 
of his knowledge must result in lack of comprehension 



HISTORY. 269 

and in an inability to remember. As B. A. Hinsdale 

says : — 

" Too much stress cannot be placed on organization as essential 
to real knowledge. But, further, it is as necessary to its retention 
as to its acquirement. . . . Individual events compose a series of 
events ; but to understand the events singly, it is as necessary to 
have a knowledge of the series as it is to have a knowledge of the 
individual facts in order to understand the series. All organized 
knowledge begins with learning a certain number of facts and 
truths ; and these must not be limited in their range, but compre- 
hensive. ... A man at any particular period of his career — as 
Cromwell, when he became Lord Protector, Napoleon, when he 
assumed the imperial crown, or Lincoln, when he was inaugurated 
President — is an absolute enigma, cut off from his own previous 
life and the life of his country," 

Speaking further upon the subject of historical study, 
he says : — 

" The great advantage of the period (epoch) is, that the term 
does not connote a fixed length of time, like year, decade, or 
century. Some periods are long, some short. It is rarely pos- 
sible to tell in years how long a period is ; still it has a beginning 
and an end, and is marked by certain features giving it a unity 
that makes it possible for the mind to grasp it as a whole. 
These features may be religious, political, or military, or a 
blending of various elements. The Protestant Reformation was 
a political, a national, an intellectual, and an economical move- 
ment as well as a religious one. Obviously, therefore, the concep- 
tion of the period is essential to the right interpretation of his- 
tory." 

In illustration of this analytic method of treating his- 
tory by epochs, the following is offered : — 

(This treatment, and the outline which follows, are 



2/0 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

supplied by my former colleague, Prof. Smith Burnham, 
Professor of History in the State Normal School at West 
Chester, Pa.) 



The Period of Colonization in American History. 

/. Time, 1 600- 1 68 8 (or, in general, the seventeenth 
century). The French and the English colonized North 
America. (The student has already noted that the 
sixteenth century was the period of Spanish explora- 
tion, conquest, and colonization in the West Indies, 
Mexico, Central and South America. He has been 
taught that the Spaniards thirsted for adventure, con- 
quest, and wealth ; that they were actuated to some 
extent by religious zeal ; but that on the whole their 
aims were sordid, their commercial policy exclusive, their 
morals lax, their treatment of the natives cruel, and that 
they showed a tendency to descend in the scale of 
civilization.) 

//. Place, including a brief study of physiography and 
its influence on historical development. 

The Atlantic seaboard, the valley of the St. Law- 
rence, and the country about the Great Lakes were the 
regions first occupied by Europeans. Note that the 
seaboard is broad and inviting, abounds in good harbors, 
has numerous rivers by means of which the land can be 
explored for long distances from the coast ; that the 
St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes furnished the French- 
man a highway into the heart of the continent ; that 
easy portages then took him to the tributaries of the 
Mississippi ; that the Hudson and Lakes George and 



HISTORY. 271 

Champlain form the natural highway from Canada south 
to the ocean ; that the sources of the Potomac and 
other southern rivers are hard by the head waters of the 
tributaries of the Ohio and the Mississippi. Consider 
the varying aspects of the Atlantic border. In New 
England the coast is narrow, harbors are abundant, short 
and rapid rivers furnish excellent water power ; while in 
the South, the long, broad, slowly flowing rivers serve 
as roads to the large, isolated plantations strung along 
their banks. The Hudson and the Potomac lead far 
inland, are paths to the waterways of the interior, and 
divide the Atlantic slope into three divisions within which 
grew up three distinct groups of colonies. Show the 
varieties of soil and climate, the forest character of the 
country, and the abundance of fur-bearing animals in 
Canada and the interior. 

///. TJie Colonizing Peoples ajid Their Motives. 

1. The Fj'cncJi occupied the valley of the St. Law- 
rence and rapidly penetrated the interior. Their motives 
were commercial and religious. The fur trader and the 
missionary were the typical French Americans. Few in 
number, the French were hampered by the effort to 
introduce the social, political, and ecclesiastical system 
of France. An eminent authority says : " Paternalism, 
centralization and bureaucratic government, official rot- 
tenness, instability of system, religious exclusiveness, and 
a vicious system of land tenure were the prime causes of 
the ruin of New France." 

2. The English colonized the Atlantic coast from 
Maine to Georgia. Various motives actuated them. 



2J2 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Some of the more important were the love of adventure ; 
the desire to better their economic condition, in some 
cases the desire to rid England of a pauper element ; the 
commercial spirit, the desire to escape oppressive politi- 
cal and religious conditions ; the hope of founding states 
in which their own social, political, and religious ideals 
might be realized. Unlike the French, they suffered 
little interference from the mother country, and were 
largely left to work out their own salvation. 

IV. Characteristic Differences of Development and 
Their Causes. 

The sharp contrast between the French and English 
colonies and colonists, and the differences of develop- 
ment noticeable among the thirteen English colonies are 
directly traceable to certain easily ascertainable causes. 
Among these causes three stand out prominently. 

I . The historical inheritance, social, political, and 7'eli- 
gious, zvhich the colonists brought with them. 

(a) The FrencJmian came with the feudal idea of society, 
which still prevailed so widely in France. He had been 
reared under a paternal government which assumed to 
do everything for the citizen, and consequently tended 
to weaken his political self-reliance. He was a zeal- 
ous religionist of the reactionary type, developed by re- 
sistance to the spread of Protestantism in Europe. This 
historical inheritance partly accounts for the feudal 
character of society in French Canada, for the seignior 
and his habitants, for the absence of local self-govern- 
ment, and the attempt to control affairs from Paris, 
and for the religious exclusiveness which prevailed. 



HISTORY. 273 

(b) The EnglisJi, on the other hand, though recog- 
nizing distinct social classes, were free, liberty-loving, 
self-reliant, individualistic. They had maintained their 
political rights for centuries against the assaults of baron 
and king. They had a system of local self-government 
and common law which, during more than a thousand 
years of growth, had been becoming a part of the life of 
the people. Moreover, they had been on the winning 
side in the sixteenth-century struggle for intellectual 
and religious liberty. These facts go a long way toward 
accounting for the striking contrast between the French 
and the English colonies. 

This principle finds further exemplification as we com- 
pare the different English colonies. The middle-class 
Puritan Roundhead of New England, with his peculiar 
ideals of society and morals, developed social and politi- 
cal institutions of a very different type from those of the 
aristocratic Episcopalian Cavalier of Virginia, the nat- 
ural and necessary progenitor of the Southern Chivalry 
of ante-bellum days. Take for another example the 
sharp contrasts between the English Quakers, the Dutch, 
and the Scotch-Irish in colonial Pennsylvania. 

2. TJie purposes and motives of the colonists as 
stated above, imder III. 

The fur-trading purpose of the Frenchman made him 
cultivate the friendship of the Indians, led him to ex- 
plore the interior of the continent, and made him oppose 
agricultural settlement as likely to destroy the fur-bear- 
ing animals. It made the Frenchmen of the lower class 
trappers and hunters, and led them to live with the In- 
dians and to intermarry with them. 



2/4 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Improper motives account for most of the early fail- 
ures in colonization. The colonies of Raleigh and the 
early settlement in Virginia could not succeed so long 
as a romantic spirit of adventure and a thirst for gold 
were their guiding stars. Success began when men* 
came to cultivate the soil, to build, to trade, to make 
homes, to found states. 

3. Environment. 

Physical conditions and surroundings greatly modified 
development in all the colonies. To take but one ex- 
ample : In Massachusetts, the sterile soil ; the short, 
rapid rivers ; the proximity to the sea ; the abundance of 
timber, led many of the people at an early date to turn 
from farming to fishing, shipbuilding, and trading. These 
physical conditions, together with the fear of Indian 
attack, and the fact that the people often came in con- 
gregations, led them to settle in towns, partly determined 
the importance of the church, and was largely account- 
able for the development of the township system of gov- 
ernment, which made possible the fostering of public 
schools and was so potent a factor in the political educa- 
tion of the people. In Virginia, on the other hand, soil, 
climate, the many rivers which served as great highways 
into the interior, the cultivation of tobacco, which found 
a ready market in England, together with the later 
introduction of slavery, led the people to live on great 
plantations, long distances apart. This virtually made 
township government and public schools an impossibility. 
It caused the preeminence of the county in government, 
and combined with other causes to produce the peculiar 
social life of the South. 



HISTORY. 



2;s 



Nature decreed that Pennsylvania and Maryland 
should be agricultural colonies, that the early Dutch 
settler at Albany should be a fur trader, and that the 
lowlands of South Carolina should be devoted to the 
growth of rice and indigo, the last, a fact of mighty 
import in the history of that colony. 

V. Details. 

Teach as many as time will permit. Place special 
stress on biography ; on the lives of what may be called 
the Makers of America. Where time is limited it might 
be well to select some typical event for detailed study. 
Thus, a study of King Philip's War would illustrate the 
character of all Indian wars. The Pennsylvanian might 
give especial attention to the details of the colonial his- 
tory of his own state. Note how government, local and 
general, were developed. Quite as important as a knowl- 
edge of details — nay, far more important — is insight 
into the spirit and thought which underlie and account 
for the action of the past. This insight is best secured 
through class-room discussion, and by collateral reading, 
and topical work. Put in the hands of the pupils the 
best selections from the standard authors, bits of stir- 
ring narrative, apt characterizations and judicious opin- 
ions. In this connection make as wide use as possible 
of original and contemporaneous material. Children are 
peculiarly susceptible to the epic and dramatic elements 
in the story of the past. Take advantage of this fact. 
Let the soul of the pupil thrill with the story of daring 
deed and heroic achievement, of fortitude in suffering, and 
intrepidity in danger. Let him read, in the language of 



2/6 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

the time, of the wrongs of the people ; let him study the 
orations which roused them to action ; let him sing the 
songs which fired their souls in the day of battle. Let 
him mark the stages in the development of political 
institutions by a study of the great constitutional docu- 
ments and state papers. Help him to understand and 
appreciate the religious, aesthetic, and ethical ideals, and 
life of the past, by giving him pithy extracts from its 
great Hterature. Give him the letters, the diaries, ex- 
tracts from the laws, records of business transactions, 
ballads, folk lore, anything and everything that will bring 
him near to the throbbing life of the people of bygone 
days. 

None of this is meant to teach that the learner is to 
discard the text-book in history. He should have a 
good book and should use it with care and exactness. 
Such a scheme as the above should be clearly outlined 
in the mind of the teacher ; one main item at a time 
should be set before the child as a problem to be solved ; 
with his mind thus definitely directed to an end, he 
should use his text-book and all other available sources 
of information to supply the details which will establish 
the point that is being sought. But, in the use of his- 
toric details, the learner should always have his mind 
directed to some central element zvhich the more minnte 
data are employed to confirm. ''In history everything 
depends upon turning narrative into problems." With 
this point neglected, his efforts must be largely aimless, 
his knowledge of facts fragmentary, and the endeavor 
to correlate the history lessons of the several days a 
failure. 



HISTORY. 277 

In order that teachers may know where to secure 
the material necessary for the presentation of the actual 
realities in history (aside from those furnished incident- 
ally in the newspapers, magazines, etc.), and also the 
guides for such an analytic presentation as is indicated 
above, the following are recommended as being espe- 
cially helpful : *' American History told by Contempo- 
raries," by Albert Bushnell Hart, four volumes, pub- 
lished by the Macmillan Company ; '^ American History 
Leaflets," Hart and Channing, published by A. Lovell 
& Co., New York ; " Old South Leaflets," published 
by D. C. Heath & Co.; ''American History Studies," 
published by J. H. Miller, Lincoln, Neb. For the gen- 
eral method, '' Guide to the Study of American His- 
tory," by Channing and Hart, published by Ginn & Co. 

To supply the teacher, to whom the above aids are 
not immediately available, with a distinct idea of the 
order to which the great masses of events in American 
history are reducible, the following outline is appended : 

A Brief Outline of American History. 

(All division of history into epochs or periods is more 
or less arbitrary. While very useful in helping to fix 
in mind the salient points of development, there is dan- 
ger of its being misleading, if it is used without caution. 
We need to emphasize the essential unity of all history. 
Each period grows out of the preceding ones, and its 
character is largely determined by preceding conditions.) 

I. 1492- 1 600. Period of Discovery, Exploration, 
and Spanish Conquest. 



278 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

II. 1600-1763. The Colonial Period: subdivides 
into — 

1. 1 600- 1 688. Period of colonization. 

2. 1 68 8- 1 750, Period of colonial growth and 

development. 

3. 1 750-1 763. The final struggle between the 

French and English for the possession of 

America. 

English supremacy established. 

III. 1 763-1 789. The Revolutionary Period. Again 

we distinguish — 

1. 1 763-1 775. Development of the causes of 

the Revolution. 

2. 1 775-1 783. The Revolutionary War. 

3. 1 783-1 789. The critical period, — need for 

a national government ; articles of confedera- 
tion ; making the Constitution. 

IV. 1 789-1 899. The Constitutional Period. 

1 . 1 789-1 801 . Supremacy of the Federalists, — 

organization ; rise of parties ; fall of the 
Federalists. 

2. 1801-1815. Jeffersonian Democracy, — for- 

eign affairs of first importance ; struggle 
for rights of neutrals ; period culminates 
in War of 18 12. 

3. 1815-1845. Thirty years of peace, — chief 

interest in domestic questions : tariff, in- 
ternal improvements, national bank. Time 
of growth ; westward movement ; new 
states ; Jacksonian type of Democracy. 
Slavery controversy is developing. 







HISTORY. 279 


4- 
6. 


1845-1861. 
nant issue. 
1861-1865. 
1865-1899. 


The slavery question the domi- 

Civil War. 

Reconstruction and reunion. 



Progress along many lines. 

In order that historical facts may be fully understood 
and impressed, several distinct aids should be brought 
into service by the teacher. 

Pictures. — For children, nothing that is available will 
do more to arouse interest, aid the imagination and 
understanding, and impress facts, than good pictures. 
These may be pictures of sections of country, towns, 
famous buildings, monuments, important events, national 
flags, arms of the states and territories, etc., or of lead- 
ing men in politics, religion, society, war, education, etc. 
Collections of such pictures may be made by teachers 
with but little expense, if they are only on the alert for 
them. 

Related Readings. — These will reveal the inner life of 
individuals and communities as the picture does the 
outer. Historical readers, special stories 'from history, 
historical novels, poems, orations, debates, and the gen- 
eral literature which reveals the home life, religious and 
social atmosphere, political upheavals, and traits of 
character of the times, may all be turned to good 
account if used as side lights upon the simple record of 
the text-book. 

Geography. — This is essential to an understanding of 
great movements in history. Whether the subject is 
exploration, colonization, war, or any other important 



280 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

sectional movement, the geography must accompany it to 
render it intelhgible. It is important to note that the 
maps to be studied must be true to the times under dis- 
cussion. It is a very good plan, in studying, say, a 
campaign of an army, to have a skeleton map before the 
class and, as the movements are studied from day to day, 
have the course traced upon the map. The physical, as 
well as the political, features of a country must at no 
time be overlooked when we are considering the corre- 
lation of history and geography. 

Revieivs. — In addition to the material aids mentioned 
above, it seems important to impress the need of reviews 
as means of comprehending, as well as remembering, 
history. The topical plan of recitation should especially 
characterize the review ; style of sentences, arrangement 
of matter, and choice of details should now be left to 
the pupil to determine. Leading questions may play an 
important part in the advanced lessons in history ; but in 
the topical review the child should present his knowledge 
unaided. Day by day reviews of related matter should 
be kept up, so that the learner may thus be aided to 
comprehend the advanced items, and also that he may 
be able to strengthen his memory by help of the rational 
associations. 

In the review, which is given as a test of knowledge, 
and not primarily for the sake of impressing a series of 
facts, the order which was followed in the original 
presentation may be broken. Items may be called for 
promiscuously. But in the presentation, and the repeti- 
tion which is meant to fix the facts, a definite order should 
be observed until the series is grasped. Every proper 



HISTORY. 281 

device which will arouse interest, demand the use of 
historic knowledge, and stimulate to greater mental activ- 
ity, may be used with propriety in the test exercise. 

Philosophy of History. 

As historical facts are gathered, opinions concerning 
them may be formed. When the child has a sufficient 
fund of historic information, it is wise to have him enter 
into discussions concerning acts, the motives and character 
of men, the current and probable outcome of social or 
political measures, etc. Thus he will, by slow degrees, 
become advanced in his mastery of the philosophical 
phase of history. He will learn that history addresses 
itself to the highest thought as well as to the imagina- 
tion and the memory. He will see its bearing upon 
human interests in many avenues. This will naturally 
open the way to and kindle an interest in the study of 
civics, ethics, political economy, and all other social 
sciences. Of course, as separate sciences, these cannot 
be pursued in the public schools ; but the rudiments of 
them all touch the life of the individual with such force 
and directness that they must be met and satisfactorily 
settled. 

But, while the ability to philosophize upon historical 
facts is an important end to be reached in teaching 
history, it must not be forgotten that, unless it rests 
upon a solid grounding of facts, it is useless. '' Accord- 
ingly, the main thing that the teacher of history in the 
primary school has to do, and largely so in the secondary 
school, is to teach facts." Resting in these, however, is 



282 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

to rob the subject of its broadest interests and its best 
discipline. 

If we are once convinced that '' the primary necessity 
in history is to know the truth" (facts), we can safely 
gather inspiration for our larger work from the words of 
Guizot : — 

" That very portion, indeed, which we are accustomed to hear 
called the philosophy of history — which consists in showing the 
relation of events with each other, the chain which connects them, 
the causes and effects of events — this is history just as much as 
the description of battles and all the other exterior events which it 
recounts. Facts of this kind are undoubtedly more difficult to 
unravel ; the historian is more liable to deceive himself respecting 
them ; it requires more skill to place them distinctly before the 
reader ; but this difficulty does not alter their nature ; they still 
continue not a whit the less, for all this, to form an essential part 
of history." 

The only thing for the teacher to remember in this 
connection is, as Professor Hinsdale states it, that 
'* things must be done in their proper time and accord- 
ing to their just measure." 



LITERATURE. 283 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
LITERATURE. 

While history presents to us a record of the deeds of 
men, Hterature admits us to the inner sanctuary of a soul, 
and there spreads before us its Hfe of thought and feel- 
ing. The intimate relation between these two subjects 
should always be kept before the teacher's mind. Each 
will add light to the other. Only in the union of the two 
can we approach a knowledge of man in his entirety, — 
the individual with his threefold capacity of intellect, 
feeling, and will ; and, on the other hand, the society of 
which he forms a part and which, because of his relation 
to it, makes him unlike what he would be in isolation. 

All this suggests a matter of great moment in the 
teaching of these subjects ; namely, that they should 
be closely correlated. One cannot understand much 
more than the surface effects, if history is presented 
without reference to the inner springs of men's lives, 
such as are portrayed in literature ; society becomes too 
much like an impersonal but mighty force, pushing on 
blindly to a destiny, if it is considered only in the mass. 
On the other hand one cannot understand the motives 
which actuated great literary characters, the occasions 
which brought forth their epoch-making works, nor the 
allusions found in such works, unless he has some 
acquaintance with the history of the times and places in 
which such men lived and wrote. 



284 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY, 

Upon this last subject Professor Painter remarks, in 
his << Introduction to American Literature," that 

" literature is influenced or determined by v7hatever affects the 
thought and feeling of a people. Among the most potent influ- 
ences that determine the character of a literature, whether taken 
in a broad or in a restricted sense, are t'ace^ epochs and surround- 
ings. This fact should be well borne in mind, for it renders a 
philosophy of literature possible. We cannot fully understand 
any literature, nor justly estimate it, without an acquaintance with 
the national traits of the writers, the general character of the age 
in which they lived, and the physical and social conditions by 
which they were surrounded." 

But, confining our thought for the present within the 
subject itself, we may ask, How shall literature be taught .'* 
The usual process of the schools is somewhat as follows : 
A book on ''Literature" is taken by the pupils ; from 
this they study that a certain man was born at a given 
time and place, that he lived under such and such 
circumstances, that when he had reached a certain age 
he began writing and eventually produced a given lot of 
works (the titles of his various productions are here 
recited), and, in most cases, that he died at a specified 
time and place ; finally, they commit to memory and 
recite certain '' choice extracts " or '' gems " culled from 
his writings by the compiler of the text-book on 
'' Literature." 

Now, in such an exercise as the above, it is possible 
that not all the errors which could arise have been made. 
Still, it is certain that the mass of errors which have 
been made is sufficient to cause one to reflect with 
some misgivings upon the thoughtlessness which could 



LITERATURE. 285 

allow them in the name of teaching. The exercise 
opens with what is not literature ; it requires the child 
to commit to memory a list of statements about a man 
concerning whom he knows but Httle, and in whom 
he has such small interest that he cares less. This is 
followed by his committing a list of titles, either of books 
or shorter productions ; with this task accomplished, the 
child is deceived into the belief that he knows the things 
whose names he can recite in order. Finally, a few 
dissociated fragments are torn from their setting in the 
finished productions and given to the child as specimens 
of what the author could produce. In this act we rob the 
child of the opportunity of comimuiing with a great liter- 
ary soul; we expect him to get a just appreciation of a 
man through an acquaintance with a few scraps of his 
producing ; and we do much toward preventing in the 
child a habit of doing things "decently and in order." 

No part of the above exercise is entirely worthless. 
But in this lies the strongest ground of our criticism. 
If it were wholly without value, it would be less likely 
to commend itself to anyone. All of it is worth know- 
ing. Why, then, is it so objectionable t First, because 
most of it is not literature ; and, second, because the 
little of it that is literature is badly treated. 

Having presented the subject negatively and stated 
what not to do in teaching literature, we have next to 
consider what steps should be taken in order that this 
most important subject may be rationally apprehended 
and enjoyed. In this subject, more than in many others, 
we need to give the child an intense longing for more 
and better things than he has yet compassed. Many 



286 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

subjects present an element of completeness in their 
nature, and serve as specific guides to an individual in 
certain lines of activity ; but literature does neither of 
these, — it is unending and it must be constantly imbibed. 
Whoever would succeed in teaching this subject must be 
able to make of the learner one who, with proper dis- 
crimination, " is curious to learn, and is never satis- 
fied." 

As a means toward the accomplishment of this end, 
we must introduce the child to literature itself, and not 
to biography or masses of minced statements about 
literature. Accordingly we should take well-chosen 
productions, suited to the child's maturity and interests, 
and present these at first hand. At this stage in the 
work, most of the reading should be done by the teacher. 
Coupled with it there should come running comments, 
employed to reveal the beauty, or other feature of merit, 
in the production. 

It should be repeated in this connection that, for the 
best results to be secured, the teacher should be a clear, 
easy, and sympathetic reader, — one whose reading will 
be enjoyed by the children, and will reveal to them the 
sense and sentiment of what is presented. 

Very much more should be read than the child is ex- 
pected to learn in detail. The aim of this is to get the 
literary form to sink into his very being. We wish the 
child to get so thoroughly saturated with the good things 
in literature that he will become accustomed to such excel- 
lence, will feel its merits even though he cannot tell why, 
and will be dissatisfied with the things that do not 
contain real merit. 



LITERATURE. 28/ 

Critical analysis is to form no part of the work at this 
time. There should be no attempt at analysis beyond 
the very meager amount which may be necessary as a 
means of grasping the production in its largeness. The 
time for a learner to tJiijik all the elements necessary for 
the comprehension of a selection is when he wishes to 
know wJiat the elements are that can appeal to him witJi 
such mysterious force. Just now the teacher's aim should 
be to arouse all the feelings of the learner, with but 
incidental appeals to his judgment, that will enable him 
to appreciate the excellences of literature. 

This result cannot be accomplished by setting a child 
the task of parsing or analyzing a literary masterpiece ; 
neither can it be done by hacking it to pieces in the at- 
tempt to determine its meter, figures of speech, etymology 
of words, historical or other allusions. Just as one grows 
to love a person with a deeper and more abiding love, 
not by analyzing out all his elements, but by living with 
him and coming into vital touch with his largeness of 
soul, so does he learn to appreciate and enjoy litera- 
ture, — by 'living with it, by having his entire being 
filled with it, and by having a great soul revealed to 
him through it. 

To accomplish this end, he must be kept in constant 
touch with the good things in literature that are suited to 
his nature. He should read them ; very frequently he 
should Jiear them ; and it will add greatly to the result 
if he is made to commit and use very many of them. 
The teacher should aim to keep the child enveloped in 
good literature, though he must not be overwhelmed 
with it as if there were nothing else in life worthy of 



288 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

his attention. And let us remember that a passion for 
a style may be developed even when elements in the 
expression are uncomprehended. 

But, though such reading as this should be kept up 
throughout his school life, there comes a time when the 
learner must begin critical analysis, in order that he may 
add to the mere appreciation of things a comprehension 
of them. This will not only enlighten him more fully, 
but it will enhance his appreciation, and also fix standards 
of excellence which will make him able to lead others. 
How, then, shall the teacher proceed when this stage of 
the work is reached } 

In the first place, the meaning of the selection in its 
entirety should be discussed. If the entire selection is 
too much for a single treatment, then a part should be 
taken that is complete enough to present a finished pic- 
ture. In order that this may be done, it is necessary 
that the learner read the production in its unity first. 
The comprehension of the parts is impossible unless they 
are considered in their relation to the main idea. *' It 
should be shown how, in all artistic works of excellence, 
one main idea rules and sways ; that there is one great 
center towards which all the parts bend and converge ; 
that no part is really isolated and independent, however 
much it may seem so, but subserves that main idea." 

As one means of correlating the composition work 
and the literature, it would be well to require the learner 
to write an abstract of the prose selection or the poetry 
which is under consideration. This will reveal his faith- 
fulness in study, test his comprehension of the selection, 
and serve as an exercise in the use of English. An- 



LITERATURE. 289 

Other helpful device is to encourage all learners to ask 
questions about any passages they do not understand in 
their preparation. 

Secondly, the selection should be considered in its 
parts, — the characters represented, the historical details, 
the manners and customs of the times which are por- 
trayed, the various allusions, the meanings of specially 
difficult terms, the pictures of single paragraphs or 
stanzas, etc. Comparison should now be made with 
other similar productions. The detailed comprehension 
of allusions and statements of other kinds will require 
knowledge of the writer ; experiences in his life may 
have served as the ground of many expressions. This 
will serve as a sufficient reason for studying biography 
at this time. 

But the child's interest in the writer should grow out 
of his admiration for the writing. The principal element 
under consideration at this time is literature, and what- 
ever needs to be brought to the attention for the purpose 
of casting light upon the literature should be so used ; 
but it should always be regarded as subordinate to the 
literature itself. Furthermore, when there are historic 
references in the literary production that is being studied, 
these should serve as the occasion of correlating with 
the literature as much of history as may be required for 
fixing the time and the national characteristics. This 
would seem to indicate the wisdom of selecting, as the 
matter of literary study, such selections as will fit into 
the period of history that is being studied. The liter- 
ature can thus bend to the history better than the 
history can bend to it, because of the more systematic 



290 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

and necessary order which it is requisite to observe in 
treating the several parts of history. 

In the third place, the selection should be analyzed 
from a rhetorical and a grammatical point of view. The 
metrical structure, figures of speech, grammatical analy- 
sis of common parts, parsing of words (especially when 
used with poetic license), study of the derivation and 
origin of words — these, and other processes which will 
give added mastery to the learner, should all receive 
attention. 

This does not mean that literary masterpieces are to 
be used for exercises in grammatical analysis and parsing, 
but it does mean that the learner's power of analysis and 
parsing should be turned to account in aiding him to 
comprehend the masterpiece. Neither should the litera- 
ture be treated as a means of applying the child's 
knowledge of rhetoric and prosody. What he knows of 
these subjects should here be used to bring his literature 
more completely within his grasp. As one has said : 
" Prosody is in poetry pretty much what thorough bass 
is in music. The real student will not be content to 
hear sweet sounds without inquiring somewhat as to how 
they are produced. The different measures in poetry 
are like the various musical instruments. Poetry, too, 
has its ' trumpet's loud clangour ', its flute for dying 
lovers, and ' warbling lute ' to whisper their dirge ; its 
' sharp violins ', its organ notes that * inspire holy love 
and wing their heavenly ways ' up to the choirs of 
heaven." 

When work like the above has been done for some 
time, we may safely venture in a modest way upon what 



LITERATURE. 2gi 

may be called literary criticism. The learner has now 
reached maturity enough to be able to understand what 
constitute the features of merit in literary works. These 
should be pointed out, his attention strongly directed to 
them, and he be urged to imitate them in his own pro- 
ductions. Such criticism will have a positive effect in 
improving the learner's appreciation of literature and his 
own use of language ; the negative criticism of mere 
fault-finding can do neither. A learner should never have 
his power of literary appreciation blunted by being set to 
work, as with microscopic vision, to search out the flaws 
in the workmanship of the great masters. 

Such complete analysis of a piece of literature should 
be followed by a reconstructive act. The selection 
should now be reread in its entirety ; the increased light 
cast by the study upon the parts which were originally 
dark will cause the whole to stand out as in the brilliance 
of the noon-day sun. A careful paraphrase may now be 
required, and be compared with the earlier one produced 
in his preparation. Selections worthy of such study 
should be largely committed to memory and frequently 
recited. The things that will do most to create a literary 
taste and, at the same time, establish a style of original 
expression, are wide reading, extensive committing to 
memory, and reciting. 



292 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
GEOGRAPHY. 

Many of the terms used in discussing methods of 
teaching geography have been employed in such a vari- 
ety of senses by different writers that it seems necessary 
to state at the outset the meaning to be attached to 
each in the following pages. 

Introductory Geography is that portion of geography in 
the teaching of which we aim to give the learner correct 
geographical general notions, such as island, moun- 
tain, bay, lake, state, county, distance, direction, snow, 
hail, etc. 

Systematic Geography is that portion of geography in 
the teaching of which we aim to acquaint the learner 
with the details of the great geographical unit, the earth. 
In this branch of the subject location plays a very im- 
portant part ; and the things which are here taken up 
for study are viewed, not as typical of a class, but as 
worthy of study in their own right. 

Home GeograpJiy, or Local Geography, is that portion 
of systematic geography which treats of the country 
within the limits of the learner's home state. This limit 
is an arbitrary one, some writers including within the 
term only the geography of the county, while others 
extend the scope of home geography to the limit of the 
state. 

Foreign Geography is that portion of systematic geog- 



GEOGRAPHY. 293 

raphy which treats of the country that hes beyond the 
Hmit of the state in which the child resides. 

It must be evident, from what has been said, that the 
same truths can be taught in introductory geography by 
a teacher working in America and one working in Aus- 
traha, provided the two sections of the country furnish 
similar examples of the things to be taught. But local 
geography will be one thing for the teacher in America 
and quite a different thing for the teacher in Australia, 
— one thing for the teacher in Pennsylvania and a dif- 
ferent thing for the teacher in New York. 

A little reflection will make it plain that the inductive 
method of procedure is applicable to introductory geog- 
raphy, but not to systematic geography. In the latter 
the only methods of teaching that have significance are 
the analytic and synthetic methods. This is true because 
induction applies only where generalizations (general no- 
tions) are involved. These generalizations appear in 
introductory geography. Analysis and synthesis com- 
plete the processes of thought, or study, when the sub- 
ject of study embraces only individual things and their 
parts. The earth is one great unit, and this thing, with 
all its peculiarities of shape, size, distribution of parts, 
function of parts, etc., is the thing with which system- 
atic geography has to do. 

It now seems clear that the maxim, '' Proceed from 
the known to the related unknown," cannot reasonably 
be quoted in support of the position that the study of 
home geography is a suitable preparation for the study 
of foreign geography ; but that it signifies much that is 
helpful when it is quoted in defense of the practice of 



294 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY, 

studying introductory geography as a means of preparing 
the learner for a course in systematic geography, both 
home and foreign. If this is not at once clear, the fol- 
lowing special instance may make it so. Let the child 
become acquainted with the names, locations, and func- 
tions (items emphasized in home geography) of all the 
rivers, mountains, and cities of his home state. To 
what extent will this knowledge aid him in becoming 
familiar with the names, locations, and functions of the 
rivers, mountains, and cities of any other state or country 
on the globe ? On the other hand, familiarize him with 
the significance of river, mountain, and city (items em- 
phasized in introductory geography), and you thereby 
render him capable of understanding whatever he hears 
or reads about such geographical elements, no matter 
where they may be located. 

To have a child learn what a river is before we ask 
him to learn the name, location, size, and significance of 
the Delaware River ; to have a child know what island 
means before we give him the details of Cuba ; to have 
a child, by some rational process, come to know what the 
word mountain signifies before we aim to familiarize him 
with the various items of interest connected with Mt. 
Washington, — this is giving a rational application to the 
maxim. 

Introductory Geography. 

In this treatment we shall not aim at being exhaust- 
ive, but merely at being suggestive in regard to the 
matter to be taught. It will be assumed throughout 
that the teacher is to get the geographical knowledge 



GEOGRAPHY. 295 

from Other sources than this work. The main purpose 
here is to set forth the mode of procedure in teaching 
geography, and to assign reasons for the same. Since 
real things in the material world about us constitute the 
actual reality of introductory geography, the place to go 
for our material is not to a book from which we can 
study set definitions, but to the actual things. Our 
teaching is to be objective, and definitions (word mean- 
ings) are to constitute the chief part of the results of 
our study. A book may be of great service to the 
teacher if it is used as a guide to the things to be sought 
for in nature ; but there should be no book in the hands 
of the pupils at this stage of the work. To many this 
may not seem like studying geography, but merely like 
getting ready to study it. If the study of geography is 
necessarily associated in their minds with the use of a 
book, then, to them, it will be better to call this work 
a preparation for geography, because it is a process of 
preparation for the intelligent use of a book. 

Subjects Treated. 

I . Words needed in description (broad, deep, flat, high, 
low, rough, etc.) and in location (across, around, beyond, 
between, on, over, etc.). 

At the very outset we find ourselves confronted with 
the necessity of employing words in a particular sense 
that have a variety of meanings attached to them. 
These words should be taught, not through definitions, 
but through use. 

Ilhistration. — Direct the child to '' tie a string aroimd 



296 - SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY, 

his waist"; ''move the things in the room aroimd'' \ 
*' turn around y 

He may not be able to tell the different meanings 
attached to the word " around," but he shows that he 
knows them by the prompt manner in which he performs 
the given direction. To form a definition of a word is 
a difficult process, and here our aim is not to give a 
language exercise, but to acquaint the child with a few 
essential word-meanings for the purpose of enabling him 
to use them in the study of geography. Verbal defini- 
tions may be committed to memory and the meanings 
of the words defined utterly escape the learner ; hence 
the direction to teach these words and their meanings 
through use. '' The water flows around that rock." 
''The stream flows around my farm," " I have just 
been walking around ^ All these are expressions in 
common use, and are such as the child will be called 
upon to interpret. It is, then, our business to impress 
upon him the uses to be met in his study of geography. 

2. Ideas of dUrction. Both the relative directions (as 
right, left, front, etc.), which depend upon the positions 
of our body, and the absolute directions (as north, south, 
northwest, etc.), which are fixed upon the earth and are 
not altered by shifting the position of the body, must be 
taught, and should be carefully compared. 

To impress these ideas of direction, some definite line, 
as the north line, should be fixed, say, by marking it 
upon the schoolroom floor in such a way that it can 
remain there permanently. The exact direction of this 
line may be determined by the use of a compass, and, 
in addition, children should be taught to determine the 



GEOGRAPHY. 29/ 

cardinal points and others by reference to the heav- 
ens. 

With these aids at the command of the children, they 
should be instructed to note directions of shadows, wind, 
rain, etc. Lead them to observe the direction from 
which the wind blows and the direction to which it 
blows. Have them tell what was seen in passing to 
and from school, the store, the post office ; the things 
on the north side of the road, the south, east, or west 
side, etc. 

In order to teach them to compare the relative with 
the absolute directions, a child may be directed to walk 
down the room, say to the west, and to name the per- 
sons seated on his right, north of him ; on his left, south 
of him. Then, as he retraces his steps, have him name 
the persons now to his right, north of him ; to his left, 
south of him. 

Impress these lessons in direction, and drill the chil- 
dren in them so carefully that when they come to the 
study of maps, they will readily understand that these 
maps are simply devices for representing the things 
which they have been considering in their reality. Note 
the direction of the apparent movements of the sun, the 
direction of the roads, the course of streams, etc. 

3. Distance. In this we should aim at making the 
child understand, through use, what distance is ; and 
we should also develop withm him skill in estimating 
distances. 

Have the child measure things in various units, — 
inches, feet, or rods ; then have him estimate lengths 
of other things, expressed in the various units, and after- 



298 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

wards measure, to test the correctness of his estimates. 
Measure the circumference and the diameter of circular 
objects and of spherical objects. Note the relative 
lengths of the parts in each. Measure and estimate 
distances in horizontal planes, in vertical planes, etc. 
Estimate distances between familiar places from memory. 

Let it be remembered that the two things which must 
be known in order that we may locate a point are its 
direction and its distance from some given point. Teach 
children the difference between locating points with ref- 
erence to each other, and locating a surface within 
another surface. The latter is the more important for 
purposes of geography. 

4. Land and ivater forms. First, let these be learned 
as far as possible by having the child describe the forms 
he can observe. The stream in the neighborhood may 
be used, or any low portion of the school ground may 
serve after a rain. Second, to supplement his observa- 
tion we may use the molding board, or good pictures. 
These are put second for the same reason that the use 
of a book is put after such a course as this, in intro- 
ductory geography, — we want the child to learn from 
the outset, and to remember always that geography is 
about thQ actual things of this actual world. We do 
not wish him to study things about a molding board, or 
about a picture, until we have made it practically sure 
that he will consider these only as representatives. 
Third, we may appeal to the imagination of the child to 
picture, subject to our verbal description, what we cannot 
present to him either in reality or through the aids men- 
tioned above. This imao^inative work can be success- 



GEOGRAPHY. 299 

fully done at this stage, because the child has a fund of 
correct ideas to work upon, which have been gained at 
first hand from things. 

Much attention should be paid to the child's verbal 
description of the land or water forms which he is able to 
observe. This is the most direct means of learning 
whether or not his attention is centered upon the 
essential or the non-essential elements in the object. 
The most vital element in a thing is not necessarily the 
one that will impress a child ; but the most striking one 
will, and often that is the one of no special significance. 
Another means of discovering the child's thought and 
observation is by having him make drawings ; maps may 
be introduced later. Such drawings should rarely, if 
ever, be made by copying pictures, at this stage of the 
work ; they should be made from the objects themselves. 

5. Climate. Under this heading is included the sub- 
jects of rain, snow, hail, dew, fog, temperature, clouds, 
etc. It is not meant that at this early stage in a child's 
school life we should give to him an extended course in 
physical geography, but that we should aim to make 
intelligible to him in a plain and simple manner some of 
the primary truths concerning these facts of his daily 
experience. Scientific definitions should form no part 
of the subject matter at this time. They have their 
place in the order of learning, but it is much farther on. 
Now we want simply to make a few of the easy, but 
significant, observations upon things. Concerning rain, 
we might have children try to answer from their own 
observations questions like the following : Why does the 
rain fall now in one direction, and at another time in a 



300 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

different direction ? What land and water forms can be 
found on the ground after a rain ? Why does not water 
run down hill in a straight line as it does down a 
gutter ? About snow we might ask, Are all snowflakes 
alike ? Why does snow last longer in some places than 
in others ? In what different forms have you seen 
water, etc. ? Hail, dew, and fog should be treated in 
like manner. 

Changes of temperature from day to day should be 
observed and recorded. With this should be taught the 
use of the thermometer and the reading of it. The 
attention of the children should be called to the shifting 
of the clouds from time to time. The distance of the 
clouds above the earth, their varying accumulations, 
and the direction of their movements should form a 
part of this study. 

6. Soil. In this we should study the different kinds 
of soil, noting how they feel when rubbed between the 
fingers, the kinds of plants that will grow in each, etc. 
This will lead to a very interesting study of plants, 
fruits, flowers, etc. 

In order to make these studies interesting, at the 
same time that they are being made profitable, we 
might bring into the schoolroom a large assortment of 
suitable vessels to be used in cultivating a great variety 
of plants. These plants should be made subjects of study 
during their various stages of growth, — the germination 
of seeds, the breaking forth from earth, the formation 
of leaves upon the main stalk, etc. An almost endless 
variety of devices will be thought of by those who 
interest themselves in such teaching, and this will help 



GEOGRAPHY. 3OI 

very materially In solving the problem of school decora- 
tions, and the other problem of getting children inter- 
ested in school work. 

7. Record of observations. In order to impress most 
firmly upon children the habit of regarding this earth as 
the subject of study in geography, it is well to have 
each member of the class keep a daily record of observa- 
tions. 

Suggested plan : Note the date, time of day, weather, 
direction and approximate force of the wind, tempera- 
ture, kinds of clouds, and their position. 

When pupils have become proficient in keeping a 
record of such observations, it is an easy step to add a 
definite hour of the day when they shall note the direc- 
tion of the sunlight, as measured from some fixed object. 
These observations, kept up for some time, will impress 
them with the changing positions of the sun from sea- 
son to season as nothing else will. 

8. Afiimals. First study the domestic animals with 
which the children have some acquaintance. Have them 
accurately described. Call especial attention to their 
habits — what they eat and how; their movements in 
lying down and in getting up ; how they move in walk- 
ing, in running, in trotting ; their positions in sleep ; 
their inanner of caring for the young, etc. In all of 
these matters do not tell the children much, but put 
them in the way of finding out. 

Have the domestic animals classified, and make lists 
of those that chew cud, those that have cloven hoofs, 
those that eat flesh, those whose flesh is used for food 
of man, those that furnish man food aside from their 



302 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

own flesh. Which animals furnish beef, pork, veal, 
mutton, etc. ? 

Besides considering the domestic animals which are 
available for study at their homes, teach them the wild 
animals of the vicinity. As they study the physical 
structure of animals, have the pupils find where the dif- 
ferent animals live, — in the woods, in the ground, in 
barns and houses, etc. Find out how they build their 
homes, of what use they are to man, of what injury to 
man, etc. 

This study of animals should include the study of 
birds and of reptiles. All this work, it must be remem- 
bered, will be of a very elementary character, but it will 
do much to prepare the child for a rational study of sys- 
tematic geography, in connection with which he will 
study the animal life peculiar to each country con- 
sidered, and in a more exhaustive manner. 

9. Occupations. This opens up another wide field of 
interesting matter, which can be made to do service in 
preparing a child to go through the world taking knowl- 
edge of his surroundings. He will, thereby, become a 
person with much information and with varied interests. 
The most common occupations of the neighborhood will 
furnish much that is not known and that is worthy of 
being known. 

Have pupils give the names of occupations, the names 
given to persons engaged in them, the tools, materials, 
and products. Let those who have seen the work done 
describe the manner of doing it. If there are factories in 
the neighborhood where common things, such as baskets, 
clothespins, bottles, or tacks are made, have such places 



GEOGRAPHY. 3O3 

visited and the processes studied and described. Where 
the articles are small enough to permit it, a very good 
plan is to make collections of manufactured articles, 
getting specimens in all the different stages of manu- 
facture. 

Have them study the work necessary in the prepara- 
tion of various food products, — flour, butter, cheese, etc. 

This study of occupations should form a prominent 
part of the entire course in geography, because, as the 
various races and nations of men are studied, the occupa- 
tions peculiar to each will be necessary, in order that we 
may understand the service of the people to the rest of 
mankind. 

The order in which the above items should be taught 
is a matter that will doubtless be questioned by every 
earnest teacher of the subject. There is no necessary 
order, growing out of the rational relation of these items 
to each other, excepting that in a few instances we find 
that the study of one is made possible only when the 
learner already possesses a knowledge of another. As 
an instance of this we may mention that before the child 
can answer the question. Why does the rain fall in a cer- 
tain direction ? he must know what direction is, and the 
names to give to the different directions. 

The chief things that determine the order of these 
topics are the interests of the class, the time of year, and 
the kind of day. The teacher can do much toward deter- 
mining what shall be the dominant interest of a class, by 
the choice of subjects in language, reading, and other 
classes. To plan for the study of snow in June, or of 
rain in the midst of days of drought, would be a viola- 



304 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

tion of all rational method too apparent to need warning. 
Perhaps it cannot be too carefully urged that a thing 
should be studied, when possible, before the representative 
of it is substituted. 

lo. Maps. Before pupils are prepared to use a book, 
which forms an essential part of their later study in 
geography, they must be taught to understand maps and 
should be taught to draw them. Concerning the inter- 
pretation of maps, much confusion is allowed to remain 
in the mind of the child because the teacher has a mis- 
taken idea that, if a child can understand a common 
picture, he can, therefore, understand a map. The 
difference, however, between a picture and a map is just 
as striking as the difference between a picture of an 
object and the word which is the name of the object. 
The lines of a good picture are arranged in two dimen- 
sions to look as much as possible like they do in the real 
object, which has three dimensions. From seeing a 
picture a child can recognize the reality which the 
picture represents ; or, from knowing the object, he can 
immediately know its picture by looking at it. Not so 
with a map. A dot has no resemblance to a city, which 
it represents ; a tortuous black line does not look like a 
river ; and small, irregular, scratch-like lines do not 
resemble a mountain. In short, the map is made up of 
arbitrary characters, whose meaning should be told 
plainly and directly to the child. 

For introducing maps the following plan is recom- 
mended : — 

1 . Draw a real picture of some place, say the school- 
house and grounds, if they are not too complicated. 



GEOGRAPHY. 3O5 

This will contain representations of buildings, trees, 
fences, etc, which look like the real objects. 

2. With the aid of the pupils, decide upon characters 
which shall be used as signs of buildings, trees, and 
fences ; then make a second drawing, this time employ- 
ing the arbitrary signs of things, in place of the pictures 

of the things. (| \ may be used to represent a house, 

O to represent a tree, and to represent a 

fence.) 

3. Explain from this what a map is and then drill 
much in map drawing. 

In all of this drawing insist upon preserving true pro- 
portions — the relative length, width, and height of a 
building; relative distances of objects from each other; 
relative directions of objects from each other. In the 
drawing where arbitrary signs are used to represent 
things, especial care will be needed to maintain correct 
proportions. Do not try to give true concepts by having 
them draw, but use the drawing to inipi^ess the concepts 
they get from actual things or from printed maps. For 
purposes of geography, this drawing has two distinct 
values, — it compels the child to observe the reality with 
greater care in order that he may be able to represent it 
in all its details, and it impresses the forms more indelibly 
upon his mind. 

When the child has attained a fair degree of skill in 
drawing maps of sections of the country about him, and 
of other geographical divisions presented to him, it is a 
very good thing to have much drawing from memory 
of the easier forms. The necessity of carrying in mem- 
ory a complete picture of a form tliat is being studied, 



306 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

will force the child to attend with his utmost care to all 
the details of the form. This added care and the neces- 
sity of reproducing in its entirety, without again observing, 
will do much toward impressing with vigor and clearness 
whatever is being thus studied. 

Frequent opportunity should be given later in the 
work to draw maps upon the blackboard or other immov- 
able surfaces. This will prevent the shifting of paper, 
which is so common, in order that all lines may be made 
with the down stroke or stroke to the right, and will 
develop skill in drawing lines in every direction. 

A careful study of the method of procedure outlined 
above will reveal the fact that it is inductive. In each 
case the point of departure is some single thing ; this is 
followed by the study of another and another ; compari- 
sons are then made and resulting conclusions reached. 
Thus it is seen that the highest point attained in this 
work is about where the books on geography generally 
begin, — with definitions. When such definitions are 
thus framed we can have the assurance that they are 
understood, and we should proceed at once to use them. 
But let it never be forgotten that when a branch of 
learning is concerned with things, it is most irrational to 
begin its study by committing a set of verbal definitions 
about things. 

Systematic Geography. 

By systematic geography we mean what might appro- 
priately be called the geography of locations, because 
each particular thing that is studied is someivherc^ and its 
position is an important thing to know concerning it. 



GEOGRAPHY. 30/ 

In introductory geography each particular thing that was 
used was taken because it happened to be the one at 
hand (any other one of the same kind might have done 
as well) ; its position was not a matter of any moment ; 
we were not studying it for the sake of learning about it 
in particular, but we were using it as a means of learning 
about the class of which it was a member. But now, 
when we come to systematic geography, we are con- 
cerned about the particular things, one after another in 
themselves, and not as they typify a class. If, in the 
introductory stage, we used an island it was that we 
might thereby learn what would apply to islands in 
general ; but now when we study a certain island, say 
Cuba, it is that we may know it in itself with all its 
especial attributes of position, size, shape, climate, prod- 
ucts, people, etc. 

The thing to be studied in systematic geography is 
plainly, the earth, an individual thing made up of parts. 
These parts are the portions of land and water which 
constitute the earth, each with its particular location, 
size, significance, name, etc. The first problem that 
confronts us, in the attempt to settle upon the correct 
method of procedure in teaching this geography, is 
zvJiere to begin. 

Two opposing theories have been advocated with ref- 
erence to this matter. One is that we should begin with 
the neighborhood in which the child resides and proceed 
synthetically to study the township, county, state, coun- 
try, hemisphere, and globe. The reasons usually given in 
support of this method are: (i) It is in accord with the 
principle (i*) " Proceed from the known to the related un- 



308 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

known." (2) It affords the child an opportunity to become 
famihar, first, with the geography of his home neighbor- 
hood and country. Then, if he is compelled to leave 
school before he has had time to learn both, he will know 
the geography of the country where his interests are, 
rather than of the remote countries in which he has no 
recognized interests. 

The first of these reasons has already been considered 
and rejected as not applying to the subject matter and 
method in defense of which it is offered. (See p. 293.) 
It will be enough to add here that the maxim applies 
only where the elements of the known and familiar can 
be recognized as forming constituent parts of the un- 
known. In any other connection the employment of 
this maxim is without reason, and results in empty sound, 
devoid of sense. The study of home geography (the 
geography of Pennsylvania, Florida, or California — 
whatever is home for the leanier) must mean the study of 
the peculiarities of that district, or it can mean nothing. 

The geographical general concepts do not form any 
part of the geography of Pennsylvania, or of any other 
particular section of this country, any more than they do 
of the geography of Greece. They require the indi- 
vidual's contact with the realities of the earth for their 
unfolding ; but this contact is as wide as his range of 
experiences, and is not bound in by anything else. Now 
these geographical general concepts, learned from the 
child's environment, are an aid to him in all his subsequent 
study of geography. But, on the other hand, the facts 
of local geography, which are the items that are true of 
the child's home neighborhood, can render no service 



GEOGRAPHY. 3O9 

whatever in enabling him either to interpret the geog- 
raphy of a distant place or to fix in memory the items 
peculiar to that place. 

In considering the second reason, it seems only neces- 
sary to say that, while it is true that the child should 
know the geography of his home country, and omit that 
of foreign countries, if he must neglect either, the ac- 
comphshment of this end is in no sense dependent upon 
a synthetic method of procedure. The analytic method 
does not necessitate the study of the details of foreign 
geography before the child is given an opportunity of 
studying the details of home geography. It only pro- 
ceeds in a way that will render such details capable of 
being understood. 

The second theory is that we should begin our study 
of systematic geography with the earth in its entirety, 
and proceed analytically to a consideration of the distri- 
bution of land and water upon its surface, the continents, 
countries, states, etc., to the smallest divisions considered 
in political geography. When these parts are known in 
their proper setting upon the earth, then we may proceed 
to as detailed and thorough a study of each part as the 
circumstances of the case will warrant. 

Several arguments will be given in support of this 
theory. 

I . It is in harmony with the normal mode of mental 
procedure in the study of single things ; that is, in the 
attempt to know or understand single things. This mode 
of procedure is claimed to be from wholes or units to the 
consideration of their several parts. We know a man, a 
horse, a house, or a piano, first as entire things ; we are able 



3IO SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

to recognize these things and to give their names ; later, 
through our desire to know them more fully, we are 
forced to the necessity of mentally analyzing them. Then, 
after we have studied the details of their parts, we know 
the things in their entirety more intimately. We have 
passed from the '' whole of apprehension " by an analytic- 
synthetic process back to the '' whole of comprehension." 
It does not affect the validity of this position to assert 
that in the cases cited above the objects are small enough 
to be perceived in their entirety, while in the case of the 
earth the unit is too large to be seen at once. In the 
first place, no solid (object of three dimensions) can be 
perceived at once in its entirety. There is always the 
other side to it, or the inside. But what is perceived is 
the index to the entire thing. At this stage our knoivl- 
edge of it is vague ; this knowledge is rendered definite 
by a mental process of resolution, which must be followed, 
in order to save us from fragmentary results, by an act 
of reconstruction. In the next place, the difficulties aris- 
ing from the immensity of the earth are overcome by 
the power of the imagination. The whole earth cannot 
be perceived by any one, but it can be pictured. And in 
this picturing process of the imagination we can increase 
or diminish at pleasure, without vitiating results, provided 
we retain tr?ie proportions. 

2. Geographical location of any portion of the earth 
is always given in terms of the next larger division. A 
township is located by telling its position in a county ; 
a county, in a state ; a state, in a country ; a country in 
a continent ; a continent, in a hemisphere ; and a hemi- 
sphere, on the earth, in a position relative to the other 



GEOGRAPHY. 3 I 1 

hemisphere. Now, in the attempt to locate each one of 
these, it is assumed that the child previously possesses 
at least some knowledge of the next larger one. If the 
division is studied without reference to its location, this 
artificial isolation gives a false notion of its significance. 
Indeed, location forms one of the most prominent items 
in systematic geography. This is not meant as a defense 
of the ancient plan of studying maps blindly, and in this 
act fancying that we are learning locations. It must be 
remembered that the locations we are studying are on 
the earth and not in a book. 

3. Taking a division of the earth as the subject of 
study before it is seen in its proper settitig as a part of the 
earth, practically calls upon the child to perform impos- 
sibilities. The significance of a geographical division 
can be understood only by knowing its relation to other 
divisions. In the process of isolation, which character- 
izes the synthetic method in geography, we destroy these 
relations for the child and then ask him to learn their 
meaning. We put out his eyes and then ask him to 
see. 

With a machine in working order the attention of a 
mechanic may be directed to any one of its parts, and he 
may study its position and function with a fair show 
of success. Give him but one part separated from the 
rest of the machine, and direct him under these circum- 
stances to study its position in the whole, and its func- 
tion. You thereby greatly increase the difficulty of his 
task. If it is a part of a familiar machine, he can 
approach the task with a likelihood of performing it, be- 
cause his conception of the whole will serve him in 



3 I 2 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

disposing of the jDart ; if it is a part of an unfamiliar 
machine he must approach the task with greater mis- 
giving, though even here his great acquaintance with 
machines in general might be of service. If this task 
were imposed upon a novice, he would find it an utter 
impossibility, unless, indeed, he could invent a machine 
to fit the part. 

Something like this is done whenever we undertake, 
by the synthetic method, to teach a child anything in 
geography. Our little division has a river passing through 
it. This river has never been studied in its entirety. 
About one-twentieth of it is in the division we are 
studying. This section, it is assumed, can be studied, 
and its functions really understood. When such a diffi- 
culty is met in actual practice, the teacher ignores his 
theory, if he has one, and jumps to a sufficiently large 
portion of the earth to enable him to get at the 
thing in question in its entirety. From this he works 
down analytically to the smaller division, wheie presum- 
ably his method would have held him, and then continues 
in it until another item requires another jump. And all 
of this is done in the belief that he is consistently pur- 
suing a synthetic method of procedure. 

Having thus established the claim that systematic 
geography should begin with the earth in its entirety, 
our next inquiry is for the plan of procedure. 

Globe. The opening lessons should be given by 
means of a globe. The first lessons should be devoted 
to teaching the essential hues upon the globe, so that 
the child can thereby locate places and tell directions. 
Mathematical definitions should not be given, but the 



GEOGRAPHY. 3 I 3 

facts should be made very plain. Unless the natural 
inquiries of the children call for it, no attempt to explain 
the motions of the earth and the consequent changes of 
the seasons should be made at this time. Such a matter 
can better be left till the learners are prepared for a more 
systematic course in physical geography. The distribu- 
tion of land and water should be impressed. The line 
through which the sphere is divided in imagination into 
hemispheres, for convenience of study, should be pointed 
out. The names of the hemispheres, the divisions of 
land on each, together with their names, estimated pro- 
portions of land and water on each, the representation 
of directions on the globe — these are among the items 
that it is important to teach at this time. 

Since these are all arbitrary facts which need to be 
deeply impressed upon the memory, and since there are 
so many new and arbitrary words to be impressed, it 
must not be forgotten that many and varied repetitions 
of the same items are necessary. Added interest may 
be given to the study of location, in considering the 
great divisions, if the classes are taken over many differ- 
ent imaginative journeys. In these, the countries and 
the bodies of water passed over should be named by 
the children, for some time with the globe before them, 
later from memory. Comparative sizes may be im- 
pressed by being worked into problems of various kinds. 

Outline Maps. This work upon the globe should be 
supplemented by careful work upon an outline map. 
The globe and map should frequently be compared, in 
order to make clear to the learners that we are now 
representing a spherical surface upon a plane. And 



314 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

both of these should be studied constantly in the light of 
the real world about us. At the beginning, and for a con- 
siderable time, the map should be before the child while 
he is reciting. We want to be sure that he is getting 
impressed from the beginning with true mental pictures. 
If the proper map is not kept before him till a distinct 
image of the earth's surface is formed, the likelihood is, 
that he will construct in imagination a picture with many 
parts in error, and this erroneous picture will be im- 
pressed, whenever it is repeated, with just as much force 
as the true one. 

We should not attempt to teach details in this early 
map study, but should look to the larger elements only. 
Much interest may be added to the otherwise dull study 
of the globe and map, by calling attention to the typical 
productions, animals, and peoples of the different zones. 
Stories setting forth the different modes of life, dress, and 
industries of the people in the different countries, may 
be introduced as supplementary reading. Map drawing, 
as a means of impressing the forms and giving variety 
to the study, should be taken up from the beginning. 

Text-Book Course. 

This preliminary work in systematic geography, done 
by the aid of globe and outline maps, preceded as it has 
been by a course in introductory geography, will prepare 
the child for an intelligent study of the book. When 
this is taken up, several matters of great importance 
should be kept in mind. 

It may be that the subject matter in a given text-book 
is not arranged in the best possible order for every 



GEOGRAPHY. 3 I 5 

school. If SO, let the teacher never hesitate to rear- 
range it. If the general philosophy of the subject is 
understood, the teacher can always be trusted to modify 
the arrangements of details at pleasure. 

It may be that the book in use contains many more 
details than the teacher of a given school will feel justi- 
fied in presenting. Under such circumstances the 
teacher must rise above the feeling of bondage to a 
book, and must select and omit as the conditions of the 
school seem to demand. No hesitation should be felt" 
for fear children will regard such a selection of matter 
as a mark of weakness. Rigid adherence to a book 
more strongly suggests a lack of knowledge than does 
either a rearrangement of the subject matter or an 
omission of non-essential parts. Let the teacher of 
geography knozv geography, and the book will then 
become his servant, not his master. 

Let it never be forgotten that the pictures with which 
our modern text-books in geography abound are among 
the very best aids in the teaching of the subject. Aside 
from travel itself, nothing will sei've better than these 
well-chosen pictures to give to learners correct ideas 
of places, people, industries, etc. Lessons upon these 
pictures will break the monotony of the map study, and 
will tend to render that study increasingly intelligent. 

The descriptive text of the geographies should be 
studied with much care. This text should not be 
committed to memory verbatim, but it should be recited 
in the manner found suited to history text or to any 
other ordinary record of facts. At times it should be 
read in class and commented upon. At other times it 



3l6 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

should be assigned for study, and might even constitute 
the only subject matter of a lesson. 

It will result in a better appreciation of both history 
and geography if the teacher will observe a proper 
correlation of these subjects. Let no history of a coun- 
try be studied without calling definite attention to the 
places where the events recorded took place. Inciden- 
tally, when the geography of an important place is being 
studied, let references and questions upon the main facts 
of its history be introduced. The important result to be 
secured, aside from the deeper impression of both sets 
of facts through the repetition of them, is the ability and 
the habit of thinking of historical items when geography 
is being studied, and of geograjDhical items when history 
is being studied. Many children know much more geog- 
raphy, when in the geography class, than they ever 
think of at other times. One cause of this is the faulty 
method of study by which a child fixes in mind only 
temporarily the things which are to be recited a few 
minutes later, and, as the recitation is ended, these items 
having served their purpose, are put aside much as one 
would dispose of cast-off garments. A simple remedy 
for the teacher to apply to this ill, is persistent review. 
But another cause of the peculiar mental condition 
stated above is the practice of so sharply dissociating 
the various subjects of the course that the child is led 
to think they bear no relation to each other, and hence 
should not be thought of together. We should strive 
to remedy this defect by calling upon the child to use 
in each class any of the related items of knowledge he 
may possess. 



GEOGRAPHY. ^l^ 



Commercial Geography. 



Great interest can be awakened in the subject of 
geography by introducing much of commercial geog- 
raphy. Nothing can serve better than this to impress 
upon children the products and industries of various 
countries. It will also serve to teach them how closely 
all of civihzed mankind is bound together, how the in- 
terests of all sections are disturbed by disturbing those 
of any one prominent section, how each country needs 
the aid of all the other countries to enable it to enjoy 
the fruits of the most developed industry, and how divi- 
sion of labor tends to make the members of the human 
family mutually dependent upon each other. 

In this course we should study the imports and the 
exports of all the prominent countries ; the railroad and 
steamship lines, the canals and caravan routes, over 
which the products of the world are carried ; the sea- 
sons of harvest, say of wheat, in che different countries ; 
and all other items of interest growing out of ^ the trade 
relations of the different countries of the world. 

Physical Geography. 

To complete the work in geography a full course in 
physical geography should be given. In this we return 
to the method of work in introductory geography. The 
principal aim is, not to learn about distinct individual 
things as in systematic geography, but to develop a full 
set of geographical general notions. 

Because of the degree of completeness that should 



3l8 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

characterize the work at this stage, each pupil should 
have a book in physical geography. By this time pupils 
should know how to use a book, and should therefore 
have it as a means of reviewing, impressing, and other- 
wise perfecting their knowledge of subjects presented 
in class. 

Actual realities, and not definitions and descriptions 
from the book, should form the basis of our work here 
as elsewhere. The book may be used to supplement 
the work with real things, but it should not supplant it. 
The method in this, as in all the natural sciences, should 
be inductive, — leading up from the individual instances 
presented, to the appropriate generalizations, and then 
returning to apply these truths in newly discovered 
instances. 



NATURE STUDY. 319 



CHAPTER XX. 
NATURE STUDY. 

Because of the uniformity in their nature, and the 
consequent similarity in the methods of teaching them, 
this term is used, in the present chapter, to cover what 
is ordinarily meant by nature study (plants, insects, 
minerals, etc.), and also the study of the human body, as 
well as any other material sciences of the elementary 
school which rest upon a foundation of facts, gleaned 
by observation. 

It is not the purpose here to teach the truths in any 
department of nature study (special books abound in 
which that is ably done), but merely to present, in line 
with the general philosophy of this work, a few of the 
more important items which may either aid or hinder 
one's success in teaching. 

1. Having determined the unit of the branch of 
nature study that is under consideration, we should aim 
to present that to the child in its wholeness at the begin- 
ning. Selected pieces or badly deformed wholes will 
cause the child's knowledge to be either fragmentary or 
entirely wrong. The significance of the several parts 
can be comprehended when they are taken from their 
organic relations and analyzed ; they are almost incom- 
prehensible when presented as isolated parts. 

2. Let the aim be to train the child's power of obser- 
vation and ability to study nature, rather than to impress 



320 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

upon him a certain number of facts about nature. To 
this end he must be led to make the actual observations 
for himself. Generally the teacher will defeat his pur- 
poses if he tells the child what is before him, and then 
asks him to notice it. This will often lead to the child's 
merely giving assent to what the teacher announces, 
without taking the trouble of actually observing it him- 
self. A question that shall elicit from the child a reply 
which compels observation is much more effective. 

It should be noted, further, that the child should be 
led to make observations, not be trusted to make them 
independently. What he gets without assistance may be 
of greater worth to him than what he gets under guid- 
ance ; but this is very questionable. Most of the unaided 
observations of children are random ones, and they 
result in many facts, but with little coherency. There is 
value in an orderly consideration of things, and the 
teacher's maturity and experience should be turned to 
the benefit of the child in thus aiding him to follow an 
order, which experience has taught men, through long 
years of trial, to be valuable. This must not be con- 
strued as a recommendation to do the child's work for 
him. It merely means that, in addition to the material 
and the inspiration to use it, the teacher is to train the 
child into proper habits of study, which will enable him 
to catch up with the ever-widening field of human 
achievements, and to comprehend it. 

3. If the child's ability to study nature is to be 
enlarged, we should encourage him to seek for nature's 
products in the environment in which nature places them. 
Objects of nature may be brought into the schoolroom 



NATURE STUDY. 321 

for use, but they can be fully understood only when 
they are known in connection with their natural habitat. 
The child should therefore learn, through finding them 
for himself, in what kinds of places to search for certain 
plants, animals, or minerals. In this way he can learn 
many of the habits of living things which could not be 
revealed in the artificial environment of the schoolroom. 
As an incentive to such work the children should be 
encouraged to supply the school with material for study, 
rather than to have it furnished for them by the teacher. 

4. Unless objects are very large, so that the children 
can surround them and be sure of seeing all the neces- 
sary parts plainly, each child should be given an oppor^ 
t unity to handle an object for himself. The ability to 
handle it with care is worth something, but of more 
importance in this place is the certainty it gives that he 
can see air that is required (color, connections of parts, 
etc.), and that he can learn the many important items 
revealed to touch alone. 

5. In all object study the ability to tell what has 
been observed forms a very important part. The lan- 
guage training itself is valuable, but more valuable in 
this connection is the ability to distinguish between what 
is actually observed and what is thought about that 
which is observed. Teachers need to remember that, at 
any given instant, only one fact is observable, and then 
another, and another. In training the child to tell what 
he has observed, we should not permit him to say he sees 
that *' birds" do so and so, but rather that ''this bird" 
did thus and so. The former of these is a generalization, 
and that is never an observable quantity, 



3 22 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

6. In leading children to make generalizations, let 
comparison of individual instances play a very important 
part. If one specimen is studied as the type of a class, 
be sure to impress upon the child, in so far as is practi- 
cable, the necessity of things being as they are. Other- 
wise he will pick out the oddities in the specimen before 
him, and immediately transfer these to the class, much as 
the German did who wrote in his note-book, ''Americans 
wear their overcoats when they are warm," because he 
saw an American rush into a cold railway car and then 
place his overcoat about his shoulders to prevent too 
sudden cooling. 

When such mistaken generalizations are made, the 
teacher should not tell the child his error, as a general 
rule, but present another case which clearly disproves the 
generalization, and help the child to discover his error. 
It requires only one contrary fact to disprove an entire 
theory, and the best way to get at this fact is by taking 
the child directly to the reality from which it can be 
learned. 

7. In all this study of nature the teacher should make 
the child's acquaintance with the realities of the world 
about him the occasion for correlating with it suitable 
literature, composition work, drawing, etc. When these 
matters are brought to the attention of the learner, side 
by side with the realities of which they treat, it arouses 
within him a stronger motive to pursue them, and it 
emphasizes their worth at the same time that it 
impresses them with greater force upon his mind. 

8. In all nature study children should be taught how 
to collect specimens so as not to wantonly destroy 



NATURE STUDY. 



323 



things. In the realm of plants, for instance, if they are 
collecting only flowers or buds or leaves for study, they 
should be impressed with the idea that it is not right for 
them to pull up entire plants and throw them away. In 
many localities the trailing arbutus is being exterminated 
because of such ruthless treatment. Moreover, the reflex 
effect of such conduct upon the child is bad ; it tends to 
make him wasteful, rude, and indifferent to the influences 
that nature's beauty casts about him. 

In the animal realm great care should be exercised to 
prevent needless suffering to the creatures studied. To 
this end it is well to refrain from the use of cats, dogs, 
etc., in the study of animal physiology with children ; 
animals that are used for food and that have been 
humanely killed, may be used, — the eye, brain, heart, 
lungs, etc., of the sheep, calf, or pig. 

It is never well to sacrifice to mere learning the 
elements of our natures that make for tender sympathy, 
kindliness, and a consistent regard for all God's creatures ; 
and especially so since the learning can be as well se- 
cured without any lessening of the other elements. 



324 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

ARITHMETIC. 

In teaching arithmetic the following important mat- 
ters need to be thoroughly grasped and constantly kept 
in mind by the teacher : — 

1. Numbers arc not ''tilings,'' such as pebbles, sticks, 
beans, blocks, or balls on a numeral frame. However 
necessary it may be to use objects in teaching number, 
it must be clear to any one who will give the matter 
earnest thought that the objects themselves do not con- 
stitute the numbers, but that they are merely the means 
whereby numbers may be presented. 

2. Numbers are not qualities in tJmigs. They do not 
inhere in things as the elements do which enable us to 
know color, form, etc. In respect to these qualities, our 
sense organs and mind are open to the impressions 
things are able to make upon us ; and, as a result of 
such immediate impression, we know what is familiarly 
called ''the quality of the thing" which is affecting us. 
Such knowledge is the direct product of perception. To 
get the number ideas, however, it is necessary to per- 
form a different kind of mental action from that which 
is required to give us knowledge of the sense qualities 
of things. 

3. Numbers are not mental pictwes of things. Doubt- 
less an early tendency on the part of the learner will be 
to picture things in illustration of numbers, because the 



ARITHMETIC. 325 

numbers have been taught through the medium of 
things. But he must be led to see that while this is 
a concrete illustration of the number, it is only that, and 
not the number itself. The picture, which he may have 
in mind of three or four things, carries with it the color, 
form, position, etc., of the things, as well as the number 
idea. His attention must be directed to the '' three- 
ness" or ''fourness" that is illustrated in the picture; 
and this can be done only by directing his thqughtpd^ 
varieties of things, differing in their qualities, but agree- 
ing in the single matter of number. 

4. Numbers are not identical zvith figures. There 
may come a time, in the more advanced stage of the 
work, when the learner is entirely justified in manipulat- 
ing with figures, letters, etc., but that will be when he 
fully understands what they signify. He will not then 
think that he has mastered the intricacies of arithmetic, 
nor that he comprehends its philosophy, when he knows 
how to "■ put down the right-hand figure and carry the 
rest"; how to *' borrow one from the next column"; how 
to ''invert the divisor and proceed as in multiplication," 
etc. He must be led to see that figures are only the 
written symbols of numbers, just as "cat," ''dog," 
" horse," etc., are the written symbols of the objects for 
which they stand. It may aid the learner in compre- 
hending this if we show him that, in addition to the 
arbitrary symbol of number (the figure), there is also 
ainother written element which represents the number 
(strokes, dots, squares, etc.), and which bears a closer 
resemblance to the number which it represents than the 
figure does; just as there are other written representa- 



326 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

tives, besides the words, for the animals above referred 
to ; namely, the pictures of those animals. That figures, 
instead of being numbers, are arbitrary signs of numbers, 
and yet a great convenience in arithmetical notation, 
should be clearly grasped by the teacher. 

5. Counting does not consist in saying names. It is 
quite possible that a child may be taught to say, in their 
order, the names of all the numbers from one to one 
hundred. This he may be able to do both forward and 
backward, and yet not be able to count. Further, we 
cannot be sure that he is able to count even when he 
can recognize and make the figures whose names (iden- 
tical with the names of the corresponding numbers) he 
may be able to pronounce. He is able to count only 
when he can represent, by means of things, the number 
whose name is given. This requires a distinct process 
of mental abstraction, of thinking upon the twoness, 
threeness, etc., of things, to the disregard of other ele- 
ments which may crowd upon us in the contemplation 
of things. 

Having stated in this negative way some important 
items for the teacher of arithmetic to keep in mind, we 
now proceed to discuss what he shall do, and to intimate 
how he should do it. 

The first thing to do is to give the learner correct 
number ideas. This is but bringing him into touch with 
the actual reality of arithmetic at the outset. 

The best plan for developing these number ideas is 
through the use of objects (numeral frame, sticks, blocks, 
pebbles, beans, etc.). To give no more direction than 
this would not by any means insure success in teaching. 



ARITHMETIC. 32/ 

It is necessary to add further that there must be variety 
in the use of objects. If a teacher finds sticks the most 
convenient objects to employ in teaching number, he 
must not forget to have the learners count many other 
things also. Relying upon any one set of things is 
likely to cause the child to think that he is studying 
that thing, whereas the thing is only his instrument of 
learning. We must also eliminate from our considera- 
tion of things in the number class the color, form, size, 
position, etc., and this can be done only by having him 
apply the same kind of thought processes to similar 
things which differ in color, in form, in size, in position, 
etc. 

Further, we should add that, in the use of objects, the 
teacher should make his use of them tell the truth. If, 
in counting objects, he points first to one, then to an- 
other and another, and so on, calling them in turn 
''one," "two," "three," etc., he is not telling the truth; 
neither is he telling what he is thinking. He virtually 
calls the second one " two," the third one "three," etc. 
This must be overcome by including the first and the 
second together in our notice and calling them "two " ; 
these taken together with another should then be called 
"three," etc. The same thought applies to the use of 
objects in teaching the fundamental operations. The 
teacher should not present two objects (holding them 
up) and then three other objects (holding them up apart 
from the first two) and call the sum five objects (keeping 
the two and the three still apart). The two objects 
should be presented and the number given ; then the 
three others should be presented apart from the first, 



328 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

and this number given ; finally the sum should be given 
only when the two and the three are brought together 
into one group. This is important in the smaller num- 
bers, because between two objects and three objects the 
child can perceive (as well as think) a difference in the 
groups of objects thus used to illustrate the two num- 
bers. So long as this is true, we should 'make our 
grouping of objects faithfully illustrate the numbers 
which we think. 

Thus, we should not teach him that two sticks (11) and 
three sticks (i 1 1) make five sticks (11 1 1 1), but rather 
that two sticks (11) and three sticks (in) make five 
sticks (inn). 

At this point it may be well to state that the number 
idea is an abstract idea, and that what we call concrete 
numbers are in reality tilings which have been numbered 
(counted). It is often claimed that abstract ideas are too 
difficult for a child six years of age, and that therefore we 
should not undertake to teach numbers as abstractions, 
but should teach figures and things instead. To this we 
reply that, if numbers are abstractions, the only way to 
teach them truthfully is to teach them as abstractions. 
This does not mean that we are to teach numbers by 
what is called the abstract process of teaching. We 
should teach them by the use of objects (concretely), 
but we must lead the learner to understand that the thing 
is not what he is studying, but that it is merely the instru- 
ment which enables him to grasp the reality — in this 
case, the abstract number idea. 

Further, figures and things which are used for the 
purpose of teaching number are only representatives of 



ARITHMETIC. 329 

numbers, and, as representatives, are significant only 
when we know the things which they signify ; so figures 
and things (as used in the number class) are significant 
only when we have the true number ideas for which they 
stand. 

Finally, instead of this difficulty being an excuse for 
teaching something else instead of the truth, at the age 
of six years, it is a very strong argument in favor of 
putting off the attempt to teach number at all until the 
child has attained mental maturity enough to enable him 
to grasp the true ideas with which the subject deals. 
Indeed, the writer gives it as his personal opinion, based 
on observation and experiment, that there should be no 
attempt made to give systematic instruction in numbers to 
children under eight years of age. It has been found, by 
taking children just as they appear, without making 
selection, that the children started in systematic num- 
ber work at the age of eight years were just as far 
advanced at the age of ten as were those who began it 
at six, and continued it until they were ten. In other 
words, when the child's mind was mature enough to 
grasp the subject, he did as much in it in two years as 
another child did in four years, when during much of 
that time he was too immature to do the work under- 
standingly. 

The value of such an adjustment of subjects seems to 
the writer all the more evident, as we think of the 
advantage to the child in having all his time, during the 
first two years of school life, to devote to the acquisition 
of those arts (reading, spelling, language, writing, and 
other easy mechanical arts) which shall furnish him the 



330 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

key to the world's recorded knowledge, and the means of 
expressing his own, and of those elements of perceptional 
knowledge secured by contact with the world of things 
about him. 

Assuming, then, that the necessity of giving correct 
number ideas at the beginning is conceded, we turn to a 
more complete discussion of the process of counting — 
the process by which these number ideas are developed 
and which, when rightly done, opens the way to a com- 
plete understanding of many of the so-called distinct 
processes in arithmetic. 

In counting, there are two elements which should be 
made plain to the learner, — -(i) the establishing of a 
unit, and (2) noting how many times this unit is contained 
in the given quantity. If I am counting twelve apples, 
"one at a time," one apple is my unit, and twelve is the 
number which denotes how many units of this kind are 
contained in the given quantity (twelve apples). If I am 
counting twelve apples, by twos, the unit is two apples, 
and the number which denotes how many units of this 
kind are contained in the quantity is sk. If I count 
twelve apples, by threes, the unit is three apples, the 
quantity is twelve apples, and the number is four. Thus 
it is evident that the unit is not a fixed and unchangeable 
thing, but a thing which we determine for occasion, or 
establish. 

According to the common system of numeration (the 
decimal system) we cannot appeal to the learner's 
reasoning powers to render us much help in the numbers 
from one to ten inclusive. Each number is made up of 
the preceding number with one additional unit, and the 



ARITHMETIC. 331 

names of the numbers, in their regular order, must be 
arbitrarily held in memory. But in everything above ten 
the understanding should be appealed to constantly. To 
this end we should adopt what is called the scientific 
method of counting rather than the common method. 
By the common method the learner will regard each 
number as made up (as the numbers below ten are) of 
the one below it together with one additional unit, and 
he will call them eleven, twelve, thirteen, . . . twenty, 
twenty-one, twenty-two, etc. By the scientific method 
the system of grouping by tens will be revealed, and the 
names used will keep this plan of grouping before the 
learner's mind ; thus, one ten and one, one ten and two, 
one ten and three, . . . two tens, two tens and one, two 
tens and two, etc., to ten tens. By the time this is 
reached, the subject will offer all the variety that is 
required to enable the learner to catch the spirit of the 
decimal notation, without taxing him with numbers that 
are especially difficult because of their size. 

Accordingly, it is urged that the course in number be 
arranged in three main divisions, kept distinct in the 
teacher's mind, though their bounds may at times be 
somewhat overstepped in practice. The first division is 
with numbers no greater than ten, where all the opera- 
tions that are performed may easily be performed orally ; 
where objects may be employed to illustrate all opera- 
tions, and where no attempt will be made to bring into 
use the merits of the decimal system, because at that 
point they do not apply. 

The second division is with numbers from ten to one 
hundred, where all the elements of the decimal system of 



332 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

numeration and notation (excepting the formation and 
naming of higher groups) may easily be taught ; where 
the reasons for the processes of naming and writing 
numbers may still be clearly revealed through the use of 
objects, and where we still keep within the bounds of 
rather easily comprehended numbers ; though here the 
upper limit is fixed at one hundred, simply as a matter 
of reasonable convenience, while in the first division 
the upper limit is fixed at ten as a necessity of the 
system. 

The third division is with numbers of all sizes, where 
the remaining elements of the decimal system are brought 
out, where the learner can, with greater profit, turn his 
attention away from a consideration of the different 
numbers, and devote it with greater energy to the dis- 
tinct operations with numbers ; where the entire field of 
arithmetic as a complete science is opened to him, and 
has begun to engage his thought. 

Course from One to Ten. 

Throughout the oral work from one to ten the process 
of teaching each number may be divided into the three 
following parts : — 

1. Introduction of the number by means of objects. 

2. Drawing of squares, triangles, or strokes (to illus- 
trate the number), and counting them forward and 
backward. 

3. Application of the child's knowledge of forward 
and backward counting in reasonable problems. 

It may not be necessary to perform these three parts, 



ARITHMETIC. 



333 



in the order given, with each number, but it is likely to 
be very wise to do so. In the first part we may use any 
convenient objects ; but it will be a wise correlation of 
subjects if, with their appropriate numbers, we employ 
such objects as will reveal to the children truths of 
science at the same time that they are learning numbers. 
With three we can use the pitch pine (leaves in clusters 
of three) ; with five, the white pine (leaves in clusters of 
five) ; with seven, the leaf of the horse-chestnut (seven 
leaflets), etc. These are especially valuable in applying 
their knowledge of counting to the different objects that 
may be brought to their notice. Perhaps the most con- 
venient objects to use in the regular work of teaching 
number are kindergarten sticks, as the combinations and 
separations are most easily made with them. 
Illustration with the number five : — 
(It assumes that the child has learned four.) 



First step. 



With four known, add the one and give 

the new name, — five. 
Have pupils count the leaves in a cluster 

on the white pine. 
Have them pluck off one leaf at a time 

and count backwards. 



Second step, 



Let them draw a square, triangle, or 
stroke for each leaf, and count. 

Let them cross off or erase one square at 
a time, and count backwards. 



334 



SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



'' Let them name and count the school days 
of a week. 

How many leaves in a white pine cluster 
(or flowers [five] on my desk)? How 
many remain if I take one away ? an- 
other ? etc. 

Third step. \ I had five apples and gave one away, how 
many- had I left } 

I had two marbles, my brother gave me 
one, and my sister gave me another ; 
how many had I then 1 

Two and one are how many } Three and 
one are how many.? etc. 



In all of this work, and as far up as the children are 
able to do it successfully, we should have them learn to 
recognize perceptively the groups of objects illustrative of 
the various numbers, ivithoiU coimting them. This act 
should follow the act of building up the real number 
notion by counting. 

In all of the above work it should be noted that com- 
binations and separations have been made by one unit at 
a time. We need not hurry to introduce written work 
in number by means of arithmetical figures. The cir- 
cumstances of most schools will force us to the use of 
the figures quite early enough, because with them so 
large a field of busy work is opened. We should strive, 
however, to impress thoroughly the true number idea 
before we use the figures, which are merely the signs of 
numbers. 

Before introducing the figures, teach the children 



ARITHMETIC. 335 

orally to add to, and take from, a number a definite group 
of units (addition and subtraction). 

This will enable you to teach the figures by means of 
intelligible problems (which have a real and vital interest 
attached to them), and not merely as ten arbitrary signs 
to be remembered. The figures may then be taught in 
the order of their difficulty, and the other arithmetical 
signs be introduced gradually. 

The following order is recommended, the figures first 
being presented through the medium of suitable concrete 
problems : — 



2 


and 


4 


are 


6. 


5 


and 


2 


are 


7- 


6 


and 


3 


are 


9- 


5 


and 


3 


are 


8. 


2 


+ 4 


are 6. 




5 + 2 


= 


■■ 7, 


etc. 



When all the figures have thus been introduced, have 
them solve problems in addition and subtraction of a 
more complex nature than the ones given above ; thus : — 



4 + 3 + 2 = .? 

8—3—4=? 

9 — 2 + 3 — 4 = ? 



Throughout this discussion the writer regards addition 
and subtraction as the primary and fundamental opera- 
tions in number. These may then be taught simultane- 
ously (in the oral work), and should be so presented, 
because in this way the child can learn their relation, and 
be developing from the start his power of comparison, — 



33^ SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

the faculty needed in the mastery of mathematics. Mul- 
tipHcation and division, introduced at the beginning, will 
not aid the learner, and they may hinder him by confus- 
ing him. When the child becomes quite proficient in 
the work of written addition and subtraction, he may 
with greatest profit have multiplication and division in- 
troduced ; multiplication may then be viewed as a special 
instance of addition, and division be viewed either as a 
special instance of subtraction, or as the reverse of mul- 
tiplication. They are in reality only peculiar instances 
of combinations and separations in numbers, and their 
peculiarities can best be pointed out after the learners 
are familiar with the more general processes of combina- 
tion and separation (addition and subtraction). 

Assuming, then, that the learners are quite proficient 
in the processes of addition and subtraction, the forward 
counting by twos (multiplication) may be commenced ; 
then by threes, fours, fives. Work in addition and sub- 
traction should be extended. As a general guide, let it 
be understood that all operations taught in the past will 
be continued as future ones are presented. 

To introduce this step of counting by twos, objects 
may be necessary; if so, let it pass through the three 
parts indicated above for the early oral work. In ex- 
pressing it upon the board (second part) we might use 
squares as follows : — 



nn 


nn 


nn 


nn 


nn 


nn 


nn 


nn 




nn 


nn 


nn 






nn 


nn 
nn 



A.RITHMETIC. 337 

Regarding these first as problems in addition, we may 
bring out that — 

2-t-2=? 2 + 2-[-2 + 2 = ? 

2 + 2 + 2^? 2-|-2 + 2 + 2-[-2=? 

Then teach the corresponding operations in multipH- 
cation ; namely, — 

2 twos = ? 3 twos = ? 4 twos = ? 5 twos = ? 

From this it is easy to impress the different parallel 
expressions, — 

2 twos = 4 ; 2 times 2 :^ 4 ; 2 multiplied by 2 = 4. 

3 twos = 6; 3 times 2 = 6; 2 multiplied by 3 = 6. 

This work may be done through the medium of concrete 
problems in which the learners will be required to make 
successive additions of twos (or threes), and also to note 
the number of times two is taken. 

Illustration. — If John has two cents and his father 
gives him two cents more, how many cents does John 
have ? 2 + 2 = 4. 

If a boy spends two cents each time he goes to the 
store, and he goes to the store three times, how many 
cents will he spend in all .f* 2X3 = 6. 

Numerous concrete problems are recommended for 
little people, because through them we can exercise the 
child's number knowledge upon matters which constitute 
his natural interests. Number work is thus robbed of 
much of its unnecessary drudgery, and, with his interest 
aroused, we can drill the child to better purpose through 



33^ SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

the medium of abstract problems. This will afford a 
profitable saving of time and energy. 

In order to render this learning act as simple as possi- 
ble, it is generally thought best to confine the learner's 
effort to one ''line of tables" at a time. In making 
clear to him the nature of multiplication as a process, 
this will not be necessary ; but, when an effort is made 
to systematize his knowledge of multiplication, the *' two 
line " of tables should be learned first (up to the limit of 
the numbers with which work is being done — in this 
case, five twos, and then he should take up the work by 
threes, fours, and fives. 

The material of multiplication within the limit of ten 
is contained in the following : — 

2X2 3x2 4x2 5x2 

2x3 3x3 

2x4 

2x5 

After this forward counting by groups of units (twos, 
threes, etc.) has become well fixed, we should begin the 
backward counting by the same groups (division). 

Problem to show the need and the meaning of division : 

A boy wrote letters on eight sheets of paper ; he used 
2 sheets for each letter. How many letters did he write .-* 

Solution. — When he wrote one letter he had left 8 
sheets — 2 sheets = 6 sheets. 

When he wrote two letters he had left 6 sheets — 2 
sheets = 4 sheets. 

When he wrote three letters he had left 4 sheets — 
2 sheets = 2 sheets. 



ARITHMETIC. 339 

When he wrote four letters he had left 2 sheets — 2 
sheets = o sheets. 

Answer, 4 letters. 

Lead the children to see the reason for subtracting 
two each time, to see that the number of times two is 
subtracted is the same as the number of letters that can 
be written, and to know that numerically this is the same 
as the number of twos in eight. By so doing we make 
use of their knowledge of subtraction, and also that of 
multiplication in the effort to make them understand 
division. A very good general rule in teaching is to give 
a learner many-sided views of a thing, by showing him 
how it stands related to various things he already knows. 
No confusion need result if only these different relations 
are approached one at a time. 

We must never make the mistake of thinking that 
because arithmetic makes its chief appeal to the reason- 
ing powers of a learner, its operations need not, therefore, 
be often repeated, if only they are once understood. 
These truths need to be impressed upon the memory 
also, and we need to increase our skill in the use of them. 
These two ends can be accomplished only by frequent 
use, and we should therefore have very many problems 
worked. For this purpose, most of the problems used 
should be relatively simple ; problems that are so compli- 
cated as to be difficult for the child to unravel should be 
given as a means of strengthening his power of thought, 
but not for the purpose of impressing, or fully clearing 
up, an arithmetical truth, 



340 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

Course with Numbers above Ten. 

The work of this course should be kept chiefly within 
the Umit of one hundred ; since, within that range, we 
can best ilhistrate objectively when necessary, and we 
can emphasize the elements of the system without dissi- 
pating the learner's energies in handling large, and 
therefore difficult, numbers. 

The first thing to be done in this stage of the work is 
to acquaint the learner with the plan of " grouping," 
whenever ten is reached. This can be done by merely 
grouping the sticks that have been used in number teach- 
ing, and at the same time telling the child that we find 
it most convenient, for our future work, to put into 
groups things that are being counted whenever we get 
ten things, and to call the number "a ten." Then have 
him count orally the objects which you handle before 
him ; as, one ten and one, one ten and two, etc. ; two tens 
and one, two tens and two, etc. 

When this truth of number is grasped so that the 
child can count objects readily by the above scientific 
method, he should be shown how to write the numbers 
he has just been giving orally. 

In the first course in number, the positions of the 
figures had no significance. Each figure stood arbitrarily 
for a given number, and all the child could do was to 
remember the facts. In this stage of the work we must 
make clear to him that those ten characters are all he 
will ever need to learn ; but that they must have different 
meanings attached to thern when they occur in different 
positions, 



ARITHMETIC. 341 

This "place value" of figures can probably be shown 
best by writing upon the board a few of the numbers of 
one figure each, as, — 

5 
6 

7 
8 

9 

Now, with the objects in hand, arranged as a ten and 
two, hold these against the board and just below the 
column of figures — the ten to the left of the column, 
and the two in line with the column. Then, getting the 
children to tell you the figure which represents the ten, 
and the figure which represents the two, place them 
upon the board in their proper positions, as, 

5 
6 

7 
8 

9 
12 

This makes plain the place value of figures, provided 
there is a column of them to show the place. Suppose 
now we wish to represent simply a ten without any extra 
units. The child can easily be led to see that it should 
go under the i, as, — 

5 
6 

7 



342 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



9 
12 



He has yet one important item to learn ; namely, how 
to represent this place value when we wish to write a ten 
without the presence of any other numbers. For this, 
we erase all but the last from the board leaving simply 
I. 

What did we express when we put this upon the 
board ? A ten. In which place (or column) did we put 
it, in representing a ten .? The second. Now, since all 
else is erased from the board, which place does it occupy .? 
The first, because there is but one place indicated. If 
you should see this in a book what would you take it to 
mean ? One unit. Now, in order to have it represent 
a ten, we must get it into the second place ; this can be 
done only by filling the first place with a figure (o) which 
means "not any," and which is called a cipher, as lO. 

Now read the following : — 

13 
i6 

15 

lO 

17 

20 
26 
30 
14 

etc, 



ARITHMETIC. 343 

It is believed that some such device as that given 
above is better than the plan of simply stating to the 
child the truths involved. This plan insures his thinking 
with you through the process, and thus realizing the need 
of the cipher, to indicate the place value of other figures, 
at times when we have no occasion for significant figures 
in such places ; the statement permits him to do such 
thinking, but it does not require him to do it. 

It is important now that he should learn how to write 
and name in order all the numbers from i to i oo. Most 
of this he can do for himself. Write with him the fol- 
lowing, putting them in columns : — 



I 


7 


13 


19 


2 


8 


14 


20 


3 


9 


15 


21 


4 


10 


16 


22 


5 


1 1 


17 


23 


6 


12 


18 


24 



Call to his attention the system upon which these are 
made, emphasizing the fact that each time he gets ten 
he puts them together, thus making a new ten, and then 
let him make the rest as far up as he can go. Any child 
of average intelligence, if he has been wisely taught the 
basic elements, can make the remainder of the set up to 
and including 99. He may not discover how to write 
100, but it will take only a hint. After that, there is 
nothing more to learn in writing numbers excepting the 
higher groups, which, with their names and their places 
jn the written order, should be introduced one by onq. 



344 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

There is no hurry for this, however, and they had better 
not be taken up until the child is familiar with the four 
" fundamental operations," done in writing, upon numbers 
requiring not more than the three columns. 

At this stage, written work should predominate over 
oral work, the latter being employed generally as a 
means of introducing the several steps. It is evident 
that when written work is being done, the various opera- 
tions (addition and substraction, or multiplication and 
division) cannot be presented simultaneously. Now we 
must turn our attention away from the study of a certain 
number, upon which the various operations may be em- 
ployed, and direct it to the operations themselves, re- 
garded as systems of treating all numbers. Accordingly, 
in this stage of predominating written work, we should 
teach addition, then subtraction, multiplication, division, 
fractions, etc., as so many distinct systems of operations 
with numbers. At no stage of the work should we fail 
to point out the relations of the several systems of 
operations to each other. 

The one difficulty in written addition, that of "carry- 
ing to the next column," can be made very plain by 
means of objects. Make combinations that exceed ten 
and then repeat these in parallel written problems. 
With his previous knowledge of writing numbers, and his 
mastery of the law of putting units into groups, whenever 
he gets ten units, the pupil should be able to compre- 
hend the law of putting down the right-hand figure 
under the column that is being added, and carrying the 
remaining ones to the next column to be added to it. 
The teacher must make clear to himself that this mode 



ARITHMETIC 



345 



of procedure does not cause him to add the quantity in 
question twice. We seem to add the first cokmin and 
thus get the quantity to carry, then we add this quantity 
to the second column ; is it thereby added twice ? 

Problems in written addition should be graduated so 
as to introduce but one difficulty at a time ; thus : — 

4 8 23 17 

3 4 42 49 

Note that each one of these has in it a difficulty that 
does not appear in the one before it ; note also that all 
the difficulties of written addition (excepting those which 
arise from the unwieldy size of numbers) are here 
represented. 

. Children should have much practice work in written 
addition. When we have thus secured accuracy in their 
operations, we should drill them to secure rapidity. The 
following devices are recommended for rapid addition : 
columns of figures to be added upwards or downwards, 
the speed to be determined by the teacher in pointing ; 
abstract problems on cards, to be presented momentarily 
to the class, and answers to be given as soon as possible ; 
figures in various designs so you can skip about, as 

6 4 

557, the understanding being that each number 

9 2 3 

pointed to is to be added to the five ; counting by twos, 
threes, fours, etc., making as many different series of 
^ums with each as possible, thus : — r 



34^ SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



h 3, 5. 7. 9. II. 13, 15, 17 

2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, etc. 

1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 

2, 5, 8, II, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 

3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, etc. 



Notice, in this last exercise, that there are as many 
series of sums possible on each base as there are units 
in the base. This will reveal the amount of work possi- 
ble for drill exercises. Notice further that the one 
series which pupils use most frequently (the one which 
starts with the dase) is the only one that is of no especial 
value in this exercise, as it is the one that appears as the 
products of the different lines of the multiplication table. 
In all these exercises for speed let the effort be intense, 
of short duration, and regularly done. Increase the 
speed gradually. 

Work in written subtraction can be introduced, if 
need be, by the aid of objects. The one difficulty here 
is that of " borrowing." (The wisdom of using the term 
" borrow " will not be called in question here ; it is a term 
that those who read will understand, and for that reason 
it is used.) Suppose we take sticks illustrating a ten 
and two ; from these we wish to subtract seven. The 
child will readily see that the seven cannot be taken 
from the two; we must therefore open the bundle of 
ten and, treating them now as units, we have twelve. 
(This last is a term that pupils long ago became familiar 
with, as the common form of expression is supposed to 
have been introduced when it became evident that the 
ideaS; distinctly stated by the scientific form of expres- 



ARITHMETIC. 347 

sion, were impressed.) From the twelve we now take 
the seven, and we have five remaining. Representing 
this process now in figures, we can lead him to see that 
we had to "borrow" the one from the tens column and 
treat it in the units column as ten. 

Graduated problems in written subtraction are as 

follows : — 

8 26 42 50 203 
3 13 18 24 47 



Drill in rapid work. 

Give frequent exercises in concrete problems, having 
pupils make many of the problems. In this work demand 
problems about things as they are. This will afford an 
opportunity for impressing numerous useful facts. For 
example, do not let a child speak of selling corn by the 
ounce, carpet by the square inch, or either of them at 
preposterous rates. When they reach that stage of the 
work it is a wise thing to have pupils consult the daily 
papers for the quotations of goods that are on the 
market, and to construct their problems upon that basis. 
The same may be done later on with stocks, exchange, 
etc. 

When written multiplication is to be taken up, the 
child must know the multiplication table. This he 
should 7iiake for himself after having been shown the 
plan, subject to which it is constructed. Such items as 
stopping each line at 12, and the entire table at 12 x 12, 
he must be told. The table should be committed to 
memory, after it is thus made, so that the child can say 
it forward and backward, or promiscuously. 



34^ SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

In written multiplication the following is offered as a 
graduated set of problems showing the different elements 
of difficulty : 



4 


9 


23 


86 


40 


403 


407 


284 


2 


3 


2 


4 


8 


26 


30 


203 



Notice the elements of difficulty that are in multipli- 
cand, multiplier, and product, in each of the above 
problems. 

One more point it is important to notice in written 
multiplication. In addition we give, as a general guide 
in setting down numbers to be added, that units of the 
same order shall be placed in the same column ; this 
brings the numbers to be added into a straight column 
on the right, the units column ; as 



482 

71 

5296 

3 

427 



When we come to setting down the partial products in 
multiplication, for the purpose of adding them, it looks 
as if we violate the above general law for addition. Let 
the teacher see clearly why this is, and be ready to make 
this apparent error intelligible to the child. 

Written division is the great stumbling-block in these 
earlier stages of arithmetical work. It is the writer's 



ARITHMETIC. 349 

belief that this serious difficulty can be escaped, if we 
will attend to impressing fully the previous difficulties, 
one at a time, and then present the matter in a different 
order from that which is usually followed. 

Written division is generally taught first as " short 
division." This is doubtless due to the belief that it is 
simpler, because the expression of it in the written form 
is not so complicated as the other ; but that apparent 
advantage is very much reduced when we remember that 
the written expression does not represent all the steps 
in the necessary mental operations. " Long division " 
should be taught first, therefore, and the abbreviated 
form should be taken up later. 

When the various operations upon fractions are being 
taught, a very excellent device for aiding the learner's 
understanding is the diagram, or the folded or cut paper. 
Great importance attaches here, as in arithmetical opera- 
tions generally, to having the base clearly before the 
learner's mind. 

In denominate numbers the child should be led to see 
that the operations performed upon them are identical in 
character With the corresponding operations upon abstract 
numbers. In addition, for instance, we do just the same 
work originally in dealing with abstract numbers as we do 
in dealing with denominate numbers. The varying units 
of one denomination that are required to make one unit 
of the next higher denomination account for all the 
apparent increase of complexity in addition of denomi- 
nate numbers. 

Indeed, if we would express all the elements which 
we think in the two cases, they would look alike ; as, — 



350 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 





lO 


ID 


lO 


Thousands, 


Hundreds, 


Tens, 


Units. 


I 


4 


3 


7 


2 


7 


9 


4 




5 1-2 


3 


12 


Rods, 


Yards, 


Feet, 


Inches. 


I 


4 


2 


5 


8 


3 


2 


9 



In abstract numbers we are enabled to abbreviate the 
process and say simply, *'Put down the right-hand figure 
and carry the rest to the next column," because of the 
following conditions : — 

In reducing from one denomination to another our 
divisor is always ten. 

This always gives us a quotient (the part that we carry 
to the next column), which is expressed by all the figures 
of the given number excepting the last right-hand one, 
and a remainder (the part which is set down under the 
column being added), which is expressed by this last 
right-hand figure. 

Teachers have become so accustomed to this short- 
ened form that they seem to have overlooked the fact 
that it is an abbreviation. 

One other item needs attention in order that teachers 
may appreciate the true spirit of teaching in arithmetic, 
as in all the mathematics. It is the study of rules. 
Whether or not they should be committed to memory, 
and whether or not we should ever work by rule, are 
fruitful subjects of debate. 



ARITHMETIC. 35 I 

That the rules should be thoroughly comprehended 
admits of no question. It seems equally clear that un- 
less the learner's ability to express their truth in concise 
and exact language is great, they should, after they are 
comprehended, be committed to memory. And further- 
more, it seems evident that if learners need training in 
exact and pointed language, nothing will help more in 
this, provided they think, than filling the memory with 
excellent models of such language, in which the mathe- 
matical sciences abound. 

Concerning the question of whether or not we should 
work by rule, it might be said that the rule was made 
for that very purpose. No one will seriously argue that 
pupils should blindly apply rules they do not understand. 
But when understood, one of the very missions of the 
rule is to save the student from the necessity of repeat- 
ing all the longer thought processes with each new 
problem. 

In regard to comprehending the rules of arithmetic, it 
is given as the writer's opinion that very much more 
effort should be directed to this end than is usually the 
case. Just as pupils should discuss the theory of a case 
in physics (and solve problems as a means of proving 
that they understand it), so should they discuss the rules 
and principles in arithmetic. It is understood that the 
rule is a set of directions for the performance of opera- 
tions ; but it is also remembered that there are distinct 
reasons for all such directions. 

The discussion of a rule (or principle), not the recita- 
tion of its language, should frequently constitute the 
entire work of a recitation. Many workers seem to 



352 



SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 



think that a learner knows a case in arithmetic only 
when he can solve all the problems that are given under 
it. They take this as evidence that he comprehends the 
principles and rules. It would be nearer the truth to 
assert that he is master of a case in arithmetic when he 
can give a masterly discussion of the principles and rules 
involved in it, even if he can occasionally be puzzled 
by some of its problems. The problems constitute occa- 
sions for applying the truth thus learned and, though 
students should be able to solve all ordinary problems 
of a case, they might fairly be regarded as excellent 
students of the subject, and yet be puzzled with problems 
involving new and untried conditions, which are likely to 
continue to the end of time. 



SPECIAL ARTS. 353 



CHAPTER XXII. 
SPECIAL ARTS. 

There are several of the special art subjects which 
still need brief consideration. They are subjects which, 
in the main, do not submit to the processes of teaching 
required in the case of a body of truth that is to be com- 
prehended ; they demand rather the employment of such 
devices as will develop within the body a certain form of 
skill. In this work much will be gained by presenting 
the elements of the several subjects in the best order, as 
established by experience and the consideration of their 
psychology. 

The subjects to be treated are writing, drawing, and 
vocal music, — subjects which in the very best schools 
are treated by specialists, but which in all schools must 
be done as well as possible by the teachers provided. 

Writing. 

Without entering into an exhaustive discussion of the 
merits of the several systems of penmanship, the author 
gives it as his opinion that the vertical system is to be 
preferred, and for the following reasons : — 

I . The tendency on the part of children is toward the 
vertical script ; and business men, when they get beyond 
the influence of the school where they were taught the 
slant, tend to revert to the vertical. 



354 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

2. The vertical letters more nearly resemble the 
printed ones, and are more legible. 

3. Vertical writing may be acquired in less time than 
the slant. 

4. There are no hygienic arguments against it. 

5. The International Congress of Hygiene favored it 
in 1 89 1 by a unanimous vote. 

In the writing class two things are to be accomplished. 
We must get a good product ; and we must educate the 
child to produce it in a good way. To secure these ends 
the following considerations are offered : — 

1. Let the child begin the art of writing upon the 
blackboard. The object of this is to enable him to make 
the letters very large (even a foot high), and with a 
swinging movement of the entire arm. This will result 
in his writing a full, round hand when he writes upon 
paper. The one-space letters may with profit be made 
an inch high when the child first writes upon paper. 
These should gradually be reduced in size until he writes 
a plain hand of convenient size. In this way we can 
prevent the cramped writing, so common among school 
children, which usually results from finger movements. 

2. In presenting, upon board or paper, the model for 
the child to follow, the teacher should generally make 
it before the class. This will enable the children to see 
how it is to be done, at the same time that they see what 
is to be done. Only after this is learned should the 
model be presented ready-made. 

3. In practice it is well to have the child first trace 
(not with painful exactness, but with a free movement) 
the letters that the teacher has made. This will enable 



SPECIAL ARTS. 355 

him to get the movement required for making the letter 
and to do it with the least number of disturbing ele- 
ments. When this has been accomplished he may work 
with the teacher's model before him or in obedience to 
the model held in his own mind. 

4. The best position for the child, when writing at a 
desk, is to sit facing the desk, with both feet resting 
easily upon the floor, both arms upon the desk (about 
two thirds of the forearm should be upon the desk) 
and the paper straight before him with its center 
about on the median line of the body. This prevents 
the lifting of the shoulders, the twisting of the head, or 
any condition that might produce such injuries to the 
eye or spine as are usually attributed to the writing class. 

5. Do not insist too rigidly upon having all children 
hold the pen or pencil alike. Differences in the forma- 
tion of the hand are as striking as in any other portion 
of the body. A very good plan is to have the child 
stand or sit with the hands dropped to the side of the 
body ; the hand will then be slightly curved with the 
concave part toward the body. Now raise the hand, 
bending the arm at the elbow, and, when above the desk 
top, place the pencil within its grasp. The concave part 
will be directed toward the left, and in writing the hand 
will rest on the end and side of the little finger. The 
tendency to "writer's cramp" will be greatly reduced 
if this freedom is allowed, and the writing itself will be 
smooth in consequence. 

6. In this, as in every art, secure accuracy and neat- 
ness first ; then labor to increase the speed. Good 
habits in these particulars can be secured only upon 



35^ SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

condition that teachers insist upon good writing whenever 
writing is done. The child can undo more of habit in a 
day by slovenly written work in other classes than he 
can remedy in a week in the writing class. 

Drawing. 

In this work also there are two distinct ends to be 
secured, — (i) muscle control in the form of skill, and 
(2) the ability to make pictures. 

The first of these will require drill exercises wherein 
the mind of the learner should be directed, not to the 
objective product that is being secured, but to the reflex 
effect that the exercise is producing upon his muscles. 
When he can begin to realize that his ability to do the 
thing required is growing from day to day, we may be 
sure that he is making substantial progress. 

This drill should not be long continued at any one 
time, but should be intense and exacting while it lasts. 
The exercises should be carefully graded, beginning with 
easy, swinging movements, required for making circles 
toward the right and toward the left, and continuing up 
through the spiral, scroll, etc., each time using in the 
next higher step the elements of power that have been 
developed in the step below. 

Power is greatly increased, time is saved, and more 
complete symmetry is secured if this drill exercise calls 
into play both hands, instead of only the writing hand. 
The work may be done with one hand ; the product 
then matched with the other hand. Later, the two 
hands may be employed simultaneously. The first 
movements may be uniform ones, — upward and out- 



SPECIAL ARTS. 35/ 

ward together, or upward and inward together ; then 
may come movements in opposite directions, etc. 
Ilhistration. — 



0) 


LEFT HAND. 

("^j^ Start. 


RIGHT HAND. 

start. -^ 


(2) 


Start. -^ j 


Qs, 


(3) 


Q^-Start. 


s„<3 


(4) 


Q-Start. 


start. ^ 



When we are laboring at the second part of this 
work — the production of pictures — we should at the 
outset undertake to represent solids (the three dimen- 
sions) on the plane surface. All the contending schools 
seem at last united upon this point ; namely, that we 
should not start by teaching a child to draw lines, then 
have him draw surfaces, and finally reach the represen- 
tation of real things in three dimensions. 

The one aim of drawing is to make in two dimensions 
that which will look like the real thing which has three 
dimensions. To this task, therefore, we should betake 
ourselves at once. The need of lines and surfaces, as 
the means whereby this can be done, will thus be re- 
vealed to the learner. In this way he will get an intelli- 
gent appreciation of them from the start. As letters 
have no language significance excepting as the parts of 



358 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

words, SO lines have no significance for the student of 
drawing excepting as the parts of soUds, which are the 
reaUties he is endeavoring to represent. In hke man- 
ner, as letters are most intelligently learned through the 
medium of significant words in which they are found, so 
may lines be most intelligently learned through the 
medium of the solids in which they are found. 

But while the different schools of drawing are agreed 
upon this point, they are not agreed as to whether these 
solids should be the type solids (cubes, spheres, cylinders, 
etc.) or the common objects of the material world which 
closely approximate these type forms (boxes, oranges, 
stovepipes, etc.). 

The writer gives it as his opinion that the earliest 
work should be done from the simpler common objects, 
because of the greater interest children have in them, and 
because the type forms are representatives of highly 
developed notions which can best be reached by proceed- 
ing from the ''vague to the definite." 

The work in color can be arranged according to the 
requirements of the seasons. Autumn leaves may be 
taken in their season ; corn ears, and other farm prod- 
ucts, in theirs ; and the various flowers, in theirs. This 
will afford an opportunity for proper correlation of sub- 
jects, and arouse a natural interest in the subject directly 
in hand. 

Vocal Music. 

It is believed that the greatest good can be accom- 
plished in this connection by quoting at length the report 
of the United States Commission of Education for 



SPECIAL ARTS. 359 

1895-96, showing what experience in German schools 
has established. Dr. G. A. Lindner, in his " Cyclopedia 
of Education," says : " Concerning the method and the 
course of study for lessons in singing, in the public 
schools, the following points may be considered to have 
found general approbation in Germany. During the first 
two years of school, singing is practiced by rote. The 
chief object here is the development of the voice and 
the musical ear ; later on instruction is based upon the 
foundation of reading music. It is generally conceded 
best to confine the children's knowledge to one key, 
making the do movable as the occasion requires. In 
German schools a number of popular songs of interest 
to children, both with reference to text and melody, are 
firmly memorized and frequently practiced. Above all, 
it has been found necessary to begin the singing of 
pleasant, catchy airs quite early, so that the musical ear 
be trained. 

" A second higher step in the singing lesson is singing 
from notes. The pupil is introduced into the laws and 
symbols of the art of music. A song which he has 
learned by rote is analyzed into its elements, and the 
elements thus obtained are reduced to the scale, sharps 
and flats are introduced, and the various keys developed. 
Instruction in singing from notes should not be neglected, 
because the subsequent musical training of the pupil 
makes it very desirable that he have knowledge of music." 

Prof. J. Helm says : " A tone in itself is no more cal- 
culated to arouse a child's interest than a separate letter 
or single sound. Pleasure is involuntarily excited by a 
natural and, at the same time, technical combination of 



360 SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY. 

tones only. Interest is aroused by the concrete ; the 
abstract m itself is not interesting. Consequently the 
elements of melody, dynamics, rhythm, and probably, 
musical notation, are of direct interest to the pupil only 
when they rest upon a concrete foundation of songs. 
For this reason the technical course (in vocal music) should 
depend upon songs, and, with a few incidental exceptions, 
the systematic instruction of singing should ever proceed 
from songs and lead back to them." 

Based upon the eminent authorities just quoted, we 
may offer the following recommendations to the teacher 
of vocal music : — 

1. Teach the children, by rote, a large number of 
bright and catchy airs suited to their development. 

2. Have these tunes, together with their words, com- 
mitted to memory, and sung as frequently as the interest 
of the pupils will allow. 

3. Revealing through these the meaning and use of 
the musical scale, let this now occupy the learner's 
attention. 

4. Remember that in this musical instruction there 
are two distinct things to be aimed at, — the training of 
the ear, and, afterwards, the training of the voice. In 
order that the first of these may be secured, it is very 
important that the teacher sing, or play a musical instru- 
ment, and thus afford his pupils an opportunity to hear 
the tones which they are to sing. But the ability to 
recognize a series of tones does not imply the ability to 
reproduce them ; it is necessary, therefore, that the chil- 
dren should make the tones when unaided by the teacher. 

5. Teachers should not ordinarily "lead" their classes 



SPECIAL ARTS. 3^1 

in singing. If they do, the children will learn to depend 
upon such aid, and will spend energy in watching for 
what the leader is going to do next, when they should be 
using it in doing the next thing for themselves. 

6. Do not urge children to loud singing. Let the aim 
be to make melody, and the greater volume will come 
with advancing years. Many voices, that might with 
care have been made musical for mature life, have been 
ruined by the strain forced upon them in childhood. 
The excellence of the singing lesson is not to be measured 
by the amount of noise the class can make; neither 
does that child sing best who can be heard above all the 
others in the class. 



NDEX 



Abstract teaching defined, 139. 
Acquisition, readiness of, 33. 
Actual realities of school subjects, 

144-173- 
Alphabetic method in reading, 177. 
Analysis, grammatical, discussed, 

237- 
Arithmetic, discussed, 154, 324-352; 

study of rules in, 350. 
Arts, method in learning the, 9, 

136-138; special, discussed, 353- 

361. 
Attention, discussed, 88-96; guides 

for cultivation of, 94; reflex or 

non-voluntary, 89 ; relation of, to 

interest, 91 ; voluntary, 89. 

Capacity, mental, discussed, 17-96. 
Character, defined, 82; will in for- 
mation of, 80. 
Class terms, variation of content 
and extent of, 108. 

Concept (notion) discussed, 97- 
122. 

Concepts, general, 98; individual, 
98; methods used in developing, 
III; variation of content and 
extent of, 108. 

Conception defined, 20. 

Concrete teaching defined, 139. 

Conscience, cultivation of, 70. 

Conscience defined, 70. 

Consciousness discussed, 23, 99. 



Creative imagination defined, 41. 
Cultivation of feelings by repres- 
sion, 64; stimulation, 65. 

Deduction discussed, 54, 55, m- 

138. 
Definition, 104. 
Description, 104. 
Development of faculties, 17-96. 
Device in pedagogy defined, ii. 
Drawing discussed, 165, 356-358. 

Fact defined, 131. 

Facts, method in learning, 9, 135. 

Faculty, development of mental, 
17-96. 

Faculty, mental, defined, 17. 

False syntax discussed, 251. 

Feelings, cultivation of, 64-71; de- 
fined, 18, 60; desirable and un- 
desirable, distinguished, 66; ele- 
vation of, 68; kinds of, 60; na- 
ture of, 60. 

" Forget " defined, 30. 

Freedom, meaning of, 75; of will, 
74-78. 

Generalizations, comprehension 
of, 8; nature of, 19. 

Geography, commercial, 317; dis- 
cussed, 155, 292-318; foreign, 
292; home or local, 292. 



363 



3^4 



INDEX. 



Geography, introductory, defined, 
292; introductory, discussed, 294- 
306; methods applicable to dif- 
ferent phases of, 293; physical, 
317; systematic, defined, 292; 
systematic, discussed, 306-318; 
text-book course in, 314. 

Grammar, English, analysis in, 237; 
discussed, 226-254; method in, 
233; purpose of, 229. 

Habit, formation of, 82. 

Historic facts, aids in teaching, 
279; and philosophy distin- 
guished, 265; epochs illustrated 
in, 269; teaching of, 266. 

History, brief outline of American, 
277; discussed, 161, 260-282; 
nature of, 148, 260-266; phi- 
losophy of, 281; use of biography 
in, 260. 

Ideas not retained as entities, 29. 

Images, mental, discussed, 29-50, 
98-104, III. 

Imagination, corrupting, 46; cre- 
ative, 41 ; dangers of, 44; direc- 
tions for cultivating, 49; dis- 
cussed, 19, 39-50, loi; indirect 
aids to culture of, 47; kinds of, 
41; limits upon, 40; nature of, 
39; over-powerful, 44; receptive, 
41; seductive, 45. 

Induction discussed, 52-54, 113- 

134- 
Inference, nature of, 53; necessary 

to thinking, 53. 
Intellect defined, 18, 21, 22. 
Interest, relation of, to attention, 

91. 
Introduction, 5. 



Judgment defined, 20. 
Judgments, methods applicable in 
realm of, 1 17-122. 

Knowledge, presentative, defined, 
18; representative, defined, 19. 

Language lessons, aims of, 213; 
discussed, 213-225; graduated 
exercises in, 223; material for, 
215; scope of work in, 216. 

Liar, nature of, 45. 

Literature, critical analysis in, 288; 
discussed, 283-291; method in, 
285; use of masterpieces in, 290. 

Memory, aids to cultivation of, 37; 
discussed, 19, 29-39; especial 
function of, 29; excellence of, 
33; mechanical, 31, 33; rational, 
32; defined, 29; verbatim com- 
mitting to, 36. 

Mental faculty defined, 17; facul- 
ties, nature and development of, 
17-96. 

Method, analytic, defined, 11 1; 
deductive, defined, 113; distinc- 
tions of, 111-143; general phi- 
losophy of, 97-173; inductive, 
defined, 113; in pedagogy de- 
fined, II; synthetic, defined, 112. 

Methods, identity of, in different 
subjects, 7-13; introduction to, 
5 ; lines of investigation in study- 
ing, 6; order of use of contrasted, 
124; systematic and reasonable, 
5; the four, distinguished, 114- 
124; value of distinctions in, 122. 

Mind-wandering, nature of, 92; 
remedy for, 93. 

Motive, nature of, 76. 

Music, vocal, discussed, 358-361. 



INDEX. 



365 



Nature study discussed, 319-323. 

Notion (see Concept), 97-122. 

Number, course in, 331; funda- 
mental operations in, 335; idea, 
development of, 330; nature of, 
324-329- 

Parsing discussed, 249. 
Pedagogy, a derived science, 14; an 

independent science, 14. 
Perception, culture of, 27; discussed, 

18, 19, 25-28, 99; original 

and acquired, distinguished, 26; 

strength of, 25. 
Perceptions, care needed in, 47. 
Permanence of mental effects, 30, 

47- 
Phonic method in reading, 179. 
Presentative knowledge defined, 

18. 
Principle in pedagogy defined, 10, 

13. 

Processes, special, in teaching facts 
and arts, 134-138. 

Reading discussed, 174-212; ad- 
vanced, 200; primary, 176. 

Realities, actual, discussed, 144- 
173; guides to use of actual, 
146; meaning of actual, 146; 
table of actual, 146. 

Reality, actual, in advanced read- 
ing, 149; in arithmetic, 154; in 
drawing, 165; in geography, 155; 
in grammar, 151 ; in history, 161 ; 
in language lessons, 150; in 
literature, 153; in nature study, 
164; in physiology, 164; in 
primary reading, 149; in spell- 
ing, 150; in writing, 167; sub- 
stitutes for the, 170. 



Reasoning, deductive, 54; defined, 
20; inductive, 52. 

Receptive imagination defined, 41. 

Recognition, practice in, necessary, 
35 ; the function of memory, 29. 

" Remember " defined, 30. 

Representative knowledge defined, 
19. 

Reproduction, promptness in, nec- 
essary, 35. 

Retention, defined, 29; tenacity of, 
33- 

Seductive imagination, remedy for, 

45- 
Self-consciousness discussed, 18, 23, 

24; types of, 23. 
Sensation defined, 60. 
Senses, best used conjointly, 26; ex- 
periment upon the, 27. 
Sensibilities, cultivation of the, 64- 

71; defined, 18, 60; nature of, 

60. 
Sentence method in reading, 183. 
Sentiments defined, 61. 
Spelling, discussed, 255-259; plans 

for studying, 258. 
Subjects, classification of, 131, 146; 

completely learned, 133. 

Teacher, successful and artistic, 
distinguished, 7. 

Teaching, the concrete and the ab- 
stract in, 139-143- 

Terms, content and extent of, 105- 
iio; defined, 10-13. 

Thinking, aids to development of, 
55-59; deductive, 54; discussed, 
19-21, 51-59, 97-110; inductive, 
52, 54; nature of, 19-21, 51; 
stages of, 20, 52. 



366 



INDEX. 



Truths, mental processes in learn- 
ing, 7. 

Unit of study in the different 

branches, 146-173. 
Units of study, table of, 146. 

Visionary state, remedy for, 44. 
Voluntary action analyzed, 73. 



Will, defined, 18, 72; directions 
for development of, 84-87; free- 
dom of, discussed, 74-78; im- 
portance of developing, 78-82. 

Willed action analyzed, 73. 

Word method in reading, 183, 188- 
199. 

Writing (penmanship) discussed, 
353-356. 



OCT 24 1900 

OCT 24 1900 



